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PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION 



IN 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 



BY J. P. F. DELEUZE. 
h 



TRANSLATED BY THOMAS C. HARTSHORN 



REVISED EDITION.] 



WITH AN APPENDIX OF NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR, AND LETTERS 
FROM EMINENT PHYSICIANS AND OTHERS, 



DESCRIPTIVE OF CASES IN THE UNITED STATES. 




NEW-YORK: 
D. APPLETON <fc CO., 200 BROADWAY. 

PJH1LADELPHIA : GEO. S. APPLLTON, 148 CHESTNUT STREET. 

PROVIDENCE: B. CRANSTON & CO. BOSTON: 

J. SLY, 22 COURT STREET. 

1843. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, 

By B. Cranston, & Co. 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Rhode-Island. 




of . /- y&^C f A^asC /fty. 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 

Since the first edition of this work was printed, tL ; 
practice of Mesmerism has been greatly extended, and it 
is observable that every advancement has confirmed and 
substantiated the statements made by the literary and pro- 
fessional gentlemen who confided to me the publication 
of their observations. The Appendix, which contains 
them, is still retained, though enlarged by additional notes 
and letters, which cannot fail to increase the interest of 
that part of the work. 

It will be perceived that the views and opinions of these 
gentlemen vary ; a circumstance not to be regretted, since 
they harmonize in their facts. Their character ensures 
respect. And no man possessing common honesty or a 
decent sense of propriety, will go abroad and report that 
few scientific men in this vicinity believe in Mesmerism. 

The character of Dr. Charles Poyen, who introduced 
the subject into this country, was naturally viewed with 
suspicion, and by many misunderstood ; yet the complete 
success of the enterprise in which he embarked, has taken 
away all motive for the one, and all pretense for the other. 
He labored zealously and unselfishly, and ever demeaned 



ir translator's preface. 

himself in such a manner as to justify the vindication 
which he found in this volume. He will soon return to 
this country, after finishing his medical course in Paris. 

As no great pains were taken to circulate the first edi- 
tion of this work, several small, cheap and ill-digested 
works have been published in different places, containing 
instructions chiefly derived from Deleuze, without ac- 
knowledgement ; and mingled with precepts either doubt- 
ful or absolutely injurious, in their tendency. The price 
of this edition, is therefore reduced, in order to place it 
within the reach of all who wish to profit by the experi- 
ence of Deleuze. 

T. C. H. 

Providence, August, 1843. 



INDEX. 

LIFE OF DELEUZE, ..... 9 

INTRODUCTION, 17 

CHAPTER I. — General Views and Principles, . 21 

CHAPTER II.— Of the Processes, . . .28 

Explanation of the word pass, .... 29 

Meaning of being in communication, . . .31 

To magnetize a patient who is in bed, ... 33 

Method of dislodging pain, . . . . .34 

Processes not indifferent, .... 37 

When the exertion of force is necessary, . . .39 

Case of M. H.* * *. Coup de soleil, ... 39 

Chevalier de Barbarin, . . . . .40 

CHAPTER III.— Of the Effects, and their Indications, 42 

Effects commonly exhibited, . . . .43 

How to calm nervous movements, ... 45 

How to proceed with contagious diseases, . . .46 

When you should not magnetize, ... 47 

Explanation of the term crisis, . . . .47 

The patient should be roused gently, ... 48 

Convulsive motions, when produced, how managed, . 49 

How to make a feeble magnetic action useful, . . 51 

Case of Oudin. Another case. Instruction to mothers, . 52 

CHAPTER IV. — Of the accessory means to increase the mag- 
netic action, and of those by which the direct action is sup- 
plied, ...... 56 

To magnetize water : its effects, . . . .56 

Magnetic batteries, mode of constructing, . . 60 

Dr. Roullier's plates of glass, . . . .63 

The chain, how formed, ..... 63 

Steel wand, ....... 66 

CHAPTER V. — Of Somnambulism, and the use to be made of it, 68 

Forced Somnambulism of no utility,. ... 71 

How to proceed when it occurs, . . . .72 

To produce moral effects, 75 

Susceptibility of Somnambulists, . . . .77 

Not to admit spectators. The author's experience, . 79 
1* 



VI INDEX. 

If your somnambulist prescribes remedies, . . 80 

And gives you a description of his disease, . . 81 

Cautions about following his prescriptions, . . 83-86 

Epileptic fits. Case at the Salpetriere, . . 86 

Explaining our will by words, . . . .87 

Influence in the natural state, .... 88 

Address of somnambulists, . . . . .89 

Ecstacy or magnetic exaltation : its dangers, . . 80 

Description of an abstracted somnambulist, . . 92 

Retracing the ideas of infancy, ... 96 
Imaginary Inspiration, ..... 100 

CHAPTER VI. — Of precaution in the choice of a Magnetizer, 106 

Women ought to magnetize women, . . . 107 

Madame Chambon de Montaux, .... 108 

You should inform your physician when you resort to Mag- 
netism, . . . . . . 110 

Magnetism produces the effects desired of medicines, . 110 

How to proceed when a treatment is commenced, . Ill 

To magnetize one's self, ..... 113 

Magnetizers by profession, .... 113 

Why they should receive regular fees, . . 1 14 

Puysegur's valet de chambre, Ribault, . . 115 

Special faculties of some Magnetizers. Cases. . . 116 

Moral influence of M. N. ** * J19 

CHAPTER VII. — Application of Magnetism to Diseases, and 

its connection with Diseases, . . . 121 

Why Physicians should be consulted in applying it. . 123 

The best rules for practice, .... 124 

Acute and cbronic diseases distinguished, . . 127 

In acute diseases, call in the physician, . . . 127 

When to discontinue the action, . . . 129 

Putrid and malignant and nervous fevers, . . 130 

Local inflammation : quinsy : acidulated water, . 130 

Inflammation of the stomach; a case, . . . 131 

M. Boismarsas, ...... 132 

The treatment should be uninterrupted in certain diseases, 134 
Diseases of the lymphatic system. Dropsy. Enlargement 

of the glands. Obstructions of viscera, . 135-136 

In what case magnetism is dangerous, . . 136 

Scrofulous diseases. Ulcers. Cases cited, . . 137 

Pulmonary phthisis. Slow fevers. Asthma, . 138 

Vomitings. Nervous diseases. Vapors. Epilepsy, 139-140 
Hysteric affections. Hypochondria. Paralysis, 141-142 

Spasms. Mental alienation. A case, . . . 143 

Schirrhosity or ulceration in utero. Suppression, . 144 

Intermittent fevers. Pains in the stomach, . . 145 

Headache. Rheumatism. Sciatica, . « . 146 

Gout, ....... 147 

Scorbutic affections. Diseases of the eye, . . 148 



INDEX, 



¥11 



Hospital treatment, 



Cataract. Opacities in the Cornea. Cases, 
Deafness. Deaf mutes. Cutaneous phlegmasias. Biles 
Scald head. Pregnancy, .... 

M. Thiriat. M . Wolfart's practice with children, 
Orgelet. Bowel complaint. Rickets. Spinal affection, 
Hip disease. A case, ..... 
Testimony of 250 physicians mentioned, 
Case of tic douloureux, .... 

Acting at a distance : when proper, when improper, 
Somnambulism renewed by a magnetized object, 
Letters written in somnambulism, 
Chorea and constant vertigo cured, 

CHAPTER VIII. — Means of avoiding inconveniences and 

dangers. 
Of the moral dangers. 
Sir David Brewster, 

Opinions communicated by intimacy, a caution, 
Ill-founded prejudices against somnambulism, 
Of the physical dangers, . 

Nervous irritation. How to proceed, 
Critical pains not to be feared, . 
Interruption of a treatment, 
Two cases of interrupted treatment, 
Severe organic diseases, 
Nervous crises in certain cases necessary, 
■Magnetizers in bad health impart disease. Case of a som 

nambulist, ..... 
They sometimes also catch diseases of their patients 
Directions about somnambulists, 
Exciting the faculties to obtain surprising effects, 
Magnetic exaltation or ecstacy, .... 
Danger of too much confidence in somnambulists : directions 
Professional somnambulists. Their mode of examining, 
Consult for persons absent and unknown to them, 
Sometimes prescribe for diseases, 
Should not be consulted, unless worthy of esteem, 
When the somnambulist prescribes for himself, 
Extraordinary faculties developed do not exclude error, 
Faculty of prevision, how limited, 

How to prevent somnambulists from running into error, 
Reveries of illuminism, ..... 
Somnambulism not always a state of purity, 

CHAPTER IX. — Of the means of developing in ourselves the 
Magnetic faculty, and of deriving advantage from this 
developement, ..... 190 

Mesmer, a good observer and a learned physician, , 190 

Propositions of Mesmer. The currents, . . 191 

Somnambulists perceive the seat of diseases, . . 192 

Many magnetizers have the same faculty, . . 192 



Vlll INDEX. 

Mode of acquiring and using it, ... 193 

To establish intimate communication and examine diseases, 195 

Magnetic Vapor : perceiving the currents, . . 197 

Peculiar sensations of the magnetizer, . . 198 
Observation of M. Babst, . . . . .199 

Magnetism has laws — is a science, . . . 200 

CHAPTER X. — Of the studies by which a person may per- 
fect himself in the knowledge of Magnetism, . 201 
The practice and the science, .... 201 

What preliminary knowledge is desirable for those who study 

the last, . . . . . .203 

In what cases experiments may be made, . . 208 
The principles of Magnetism not to be sought in other 

sciences, ...... 212 

Its theory based upon one great principle, . . 213 

M. de Puysegur's maxims, .... 214 

APPENDIX, 217 

NEW APPENDIX, . . . . .350 

INDEX TO THE APPENDIX, ... 400 



LIFE OF DELEUZE. 

The life of the author of this work was translated by a lady 
from the elaborate volume of Doctor Foissac. Whoever reads 
it, will find his confidence irresistibly drawn towards him by the 
evidence of a character in which it is delightful to confide. — 
Whatever may be our opinion of Mesmerism, which Deleuze has 
practised gratuitously for more than half a century, we cannot 
refuse to accord to him sincerity of mind, and uprightness of in- 
tention. His various works indicate a careful, and scrutinizing 
spirit, dictated by a single-mindedness which rarely leads into 
mischievous error. We trust in him as a guide, because we see 
his caution ; if he does not bring conviction to his theory, he 
drives suspicion from his motive. And he is little to be envied, 
who suffers a vulgar prejudice to influence his judgement, when a 
subject of the first importance, supported by the practice and tes- 
timony of Deleuze, claims from his as a professional man, a seri- 
ous and careful investigation. 

Joseph Philip Francis Deleuze was born at Sisteron, Low- 
er Alps, in March, 1753. Desirous of pursuing a military ca- 
reer he came to Paris in 1772, intending to study mathematics ; 
but the nominations not having taken place, he entered the infan- 
try, with the rank of sub-lieutenant. Three years after, the corps 
in which he served being disbanded, he left the service and de- 
voted himself to the study of the natural sciences. While resid- 
ing in the country near Sisteron, in 1785, he read for the first 
time an account of the cures performed at Buzancy, in which he 
put no confidence ; indeed, he suspected them to be fabrications, 
designed to bring ridicule on the partisans of magnetism. But 
hearing that one of his friends, (\I. D. d'Aix,) a man of cool rea- 
son and enlightened mind, had been to see Mesmer at M. Ser- 
van's, and on his return to Aix had succeeded in producing som- 
nambulism, he resolved to visit him and ascertain the truth. 



X LIFE OF DELEUZE. 

"I performed the journey on foot," said he, "botanizing as I 
went, and arrived at Aix the second day at noon, having walked 
since four o'clock in the morning. I immediately imparted to my 
friend the object of my journey, desiring him to tell me what he 
thought of the prodigies I had heard ; he smiled, and said coolly, 
* wait and see for yourself; the patient will be here in three 
hours.' 

At the end of that time she arrived, and with her several per- 
sons who were to form a chain. 1 joined this chain, and in a few 
minutes saw the patient asleep. I looked with astonishment, but 
falling asleep myself in less than fifteen minutes, I ceased to ob- 
serve. During my sleep I talked much, and was so much excit- 
ed as to trouble the chain. Of this I had no recollection when I 
awoke, and found them all laughing around me. The next day, 
instead of sleeping myself, I observed others, and desired my 
friend to teach me the processes. On my return home, I attempt- 
ed to magnetize the sick who were in the neighboring villages. 
I was careful not to excite their imaginations, touching them un- 
der various pretexts, and trying to convince them of the salutary 
effect of gentle frictions. In this way I obtained some very cu- 
rious and beneficial results, which strengthened my own faith. — 
In the autumn, being in the city, I applied to a young physician, 
a man of much merit, who to the wisdon that sometimes doubts, 
added the desire to be convinced by actual experience. I request- 
ed him to obtain for me a patient, and if I effected a cure, he 
might consider this conclusive proof; suggesting at the same 
time that the subject should not be considered in a critical state, 
lest fatal consequences might follow from my inexperience. He 
introduced to me a young woman who had been sick seven years, 
suffering constantly great pain, and being much bloated ; having 
also a local swelling externally, in consequence of the great en- 
largement of the spleen, which she showed to us. She was not 
able to walk or lie down. I succeeded in removing the obstruc- 
tion, circulation was restored, the swelling gradually disappeared, 
and she was enabled to attend to her customary duties. When I 
touched her, she slept but did not become a somnambulist. Soon 
after, an intimate friend of mine, (Mr. D.,) magnetized a young 
girl of sixteen, who became a somnambulic. She was the daugh- 
ter of very respectable parents. I assisted in the treatment of 
this patient, and I have never known a more perfect somnambulist. 



LIFE OP DELEUZE. XI 

She dictated remedies for other sick persons as well as for her- 
self. She presented most of the phenomena observed by M. de 
Puysegur, M. Tardy, and the members of the society at Stras- 
burg. Among these were phenomena I could not have imagined 
or explained ; I can only affirm that I saw them, and after this it 

impossible for me to suppose the least illusion, or the possibility 
deception." 

From this time M. Deleuze neglected no opportunity to multi- 
ply and observe facts, relieving and curing a great number of 
persons. Two years after, in 1787, he returned to Paris, and 
pursued with renewed ardor, literature, science, philosophy, and 
particularly botany. In 1798, he was chosen assistant naturalist 
of the Garden of Plants ; and when the professors belonging to 
that establishment united in 1802 in publishing the Annals of the 
Museum of Natural History, he was appointed secretary of that 
association.* 

M. Deleuze was first known to the learned world by his trans- 
lation of " Darwin's Loves of the Plants," in 1799; "Thom- 
son's Seasons," in 1801-6, at which time he published his 
" Eudoxus, or Conversations on the Study of the Sciences, Letters 
and Philosophy," 2 vols, ttvo.; Paris, 1810. The various know- 
ledge displayed in his writings, the soundness of his doctrines, 
his exquisite judgement, his style, so clear, so simple, and at the 
same time so elegant, place him among writers of the first rank ; 
and his book, the best of those intended for the instruction of the 
young, has received from the learned, praise the most flattering 
and honorable. 

Yet notwithstanding his various duties in the Garden of Plants, 
he did not neglect this new order of physiological phenomena, un- 
til now despised by the learned. He did not say, like Fontenelle 
and others, " If I b \d my hand full of truth I should be careful 
how I opened it ;" but during the furious contest occurring be- 
tween the partisans and the enemies of magnetism, he was con- 
tented to observe in silence ; and waited until the excitement was 
over, in order to publish his " Critical History of Magnetism" 

* Several of the great natiinilists of Europe have written upon the 
subject of Mesmerism among them Nees Von Esenbeek, mentioned by 
Deieuze, page 204 and 205. His great work, " Genera Plantar dm Florae 
Germanics," primed in 1839, in 20 volumes, is advertised in London at 
£4 per volume. — Tkaks. 



XII LIFE OP DELEUZE. 

the result of twenty-nine years of investigation and reflection. — - 
This work appeared in 1813, forming an era in the annals of sci- 
ence, and is now translated into all the principal languages of Eu- 
rope. In this work he took a different course from those who 
had preceded him. I shall not, said he, permit myself to form 
any hypothesis, but shall state what has been witnessed by my- 
self and by men worthy of credit. After a general sketch of the 
history of the discovery and the obstacles opposed to it, he de- 
votes a very remarkable article to the examination of the proofs 
on which the new doctrine is founded. He first lays down prin- 
ciples of indisputable correctness, concerning the probability of 
testimony, and applies them with equal logic and sagacity to the 
examination of the proofs of magnetism. He shows that its ef- 
fects have been attested by thousands of witnesses, in whose 
ranks are found physicians, savans, and enlightened men, who 
have not been afraid to brave ridicule in obeying the voice of con- 
science, and fulfilling a duty to humanity ; that those who have 
published their opinions, and by far the larger number who make 
their observations in silence, and content themselves with avow- 
ing their belief, when questioned on the subject, have all either 
witnessed, or actually produced the phenomena of which they 
speak ; while among the adversaries of magnetism, not a man can 
be found who has examined the subject in the only proper way, 
by experimenting for himself with the most scrupulous attention, 
and in exact accordance with the prescribed directions. 

With the same powerful reasoning, he has treated of the means 
by which magnetism acts, of the methods of producing it, of the 
influence which the faith of the patient§ and the comparative 
power of magnetizers, may have upon the efficacy of the treat- 
ment. In speaking of the therapeutical application of magnet- 
ism, he points out the cases in which we may hope for success, 
and shows that, provided the proper precautions are taken, its 
employment can never be injurious. In the description of the 
phenomena of somnambulism, we see that the author brings them 
forward with reserve, that he endeavors to rob them of their mar- 
vellous character, and to show that they are not in contradiction 
to the laws of nature.* His explanations of them agree perfectly 

* An able paper in relation to this subject, appeared in the Boston 
Medical and Surgical Journal of October 25th, 1837. It is from the pen 
of Benjamin Haskell, M. D. of South Boston. 



LIFE OF DELEUZE. Xlll 

with the principles of sound physiology. " Let us confine our- 
selves," says he, " to what observation teaches, and take care 
that we do not go beyond it." No one has insisted so much as 
M. Deleuze on the dangers to which magnetism may give rise, 
and the means of avoiding them. His advice acquires the more. 
value that it comes from so pure a source, and that never in the 
midst of the most eager discussion, has the most envenomed, calum- 
ny dared to cast a doubt on the veracity of the savant, or the hon- 
esty of the magnetizcr . 

The second volume of the " Critical History" fully justifies 
the title of the work. It is devoted to an analysis and examina. 
tion of the writings which have been published concerning mag- 
netism, of which there arc nearly three hundred. M. Deleuze 
has fulfilled this difficult task with great discernment. His re- 
searches show that the adversaries of magnetism have in vain at- 
tempted to shake the foundation of the doctrine, and the authen- 
ticity of the facts on which it rests. " It is to be decided," says 
he, in conclusion, " that the science of magnetism should be as- 
sociated with the other branches of human knowledge : that after 
having proved the existence of the agent, we should ascertain the 
part it plays in the operations of nature ; and having classed its 
facts according to the degrees of probability, we should place 
them beside the other phenomena of physiology, that we may de. 
cide whether they depend upon a new principle, or upon a mod- 
ification of one already known." 

Among the writings which M. Deleuze has published in favor 
of magnetism, we should particularly notice, first, the " Answer 
to the Author of Superstitions and Impostures of Philosophers." 
M. 1* abbe Wurtz de Lyon, in which, after having stated objec- 
tions which seem renewed from the thirteenth century, he exam- 
ines the causes which opposed the re-establishment of religion in 
France. Second, " Defence of Magnetism against the attacks 
made upon it in the Dictionary of Medical Science,'" Paris, 1819. 
This work, cuiefly devoted to an examination and criticism of the 
article, " Magnetism," of M. Virey, at the same time answers, in 
the most satisfactory manner, the declamations, sarcasms, and 
-even coarse abuse, in which men of merit, blinded by rooted prej- 
2 



XlV LIFE OF DELEUZE. 

udices, have allowed themselves towards observers who were only 
actuated by the love of truth, and the desire of being useful. 

M. Deleuze proves that these adversaries knew nothing about 
magnetism ; that they father upon its partisans absurd opinions ; 
that they pass by in silence the most convincing proofs ; and that 
forced at last to admit indisputable phenomena, they attribute 
them to a cause incompetent to produce them. We should know 
little of M. Deleuze, did we suppose for an instant that he profits 
by his advantages, and hurls back upon his calumniators the rid- 
icule and contempt with which they wished to overwhelm him. — 
His argument is a model of dignity, reason and politeness. 

Among the instances of this which I might adduce, there is 
one I cannot pass over in silence. M. Virey says, p. 404 of his 
article on Magnetism, " Should Mesmer, or one of his most able 
successors, throw a horse or an ewe into somnambulism, then I 
would recognise the empire of universal magnetism." To this 
strange demand, M. Deleuze contented himself with replying : 
" Every body knows very well, that M. Virey will never be con- 
vinced, if he must first witness such a phenomenon as this." 

After having addressed the learned world in his " Critical His- 
tory," M. Deleuze wished to draw up a system of rules, which 
should place the subject within the reach of all minds. This end 
he has attained by publishing his "Practical Instruction" Paris, 
1825. Men versed in its phenomena will find in this book the re- 
sults of a consumate experience. Those who have as yet seen 
nothing, and who desire to assure themselves of the truth of the 
facts, will draw from thence all the knowledge necessary to avoid 
mistakes, to observe with profit, and to give to their practice a salu- 
tary direction. 

Since that period M. Deleuze has published nothing concern- 
ing magnetism, although he has still in his hands rich materials, 
upon which some physicians who have read them, agree in be- 
stowing the highest praise. Such are, an Essay on Prevision ; 
several very curious modes of treatment ; the remainder of the 
articles on Van-Helmont ; and several dissertations on the most 
important questions of magnetism. 

Upon the death of M. Toscan, in 1828, he was appointed libra- 
rian of the Museum of Natural History. He is a member of the 
Philomathic Society, as well as of several learned bodies, both in 



LIFE OF DELEUZE. XV 

France and foreign countries, and for fifteen years has drawn up 
the annual reports of the Philanthropic Society, of which he is 
secretary. Such is the ascendance which the wisdom and private 
virtues of M. Deleuze acquire over all who know him, that in the 
discussions of the Royal Academy of Medicine, his name has 
never been pronounced without the most honorable epithets ; the 
commission have always cited him as authority. His rare quali- 
ties, his pleasing and instructive conversation, have gained him 
many friends among the most celebrated of the learned, Levail- 
lant, Duperron, Cuvier, de Humboldt, etc., and in the unanimous 
opinion of his contemporaries, he divides with M. le Marquis de 
Puysegur, the honor of having defended and propagated one of 
the most beautiful discoveries of modern times. 



LIST OF THE WORKS OF M. DELEUZE. 

I. ON MAGNETISM. 

1. Critical History of Animal Magnetism. 2 vols. 8 vo. — 
Paris, 1813 and 1819. 

2. Letter to the author of the work entitled, Superstitions and 
impostures of the philosophers of the eighteenth century. 8 vo. 80 
pp. 1819. 

3. Defence of Magnetism against the attacks made upon it in 
the Dictionary of Medical Science. 1 vol., 8 vo., 1819. 

4. Observations addressed to those physicians who were desir- 
ous of establishing a magnetic treatment. 8 vo. 20 pp. 1821. 

5. Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism. 1 vol. 8 vo. 
and 12mo. 472 pp. 1825. 

6. Letter to the Members of the Academy of Medicine. 8 vo. 
39 pp. 1826. 

7. A large number of essays upon magnetism, and the phenom- 
ena of therapeutics, physiology and psychology, which it has 
brought under our observation ; inserted in three periodicals which 
appeared successively, to wit: 1st, The Annals of Magnetism ; 8 
vols , in 8 vo. from 1814 to 1816. Paris, published by Dentu.— 
2, The Library of Magnetism, 8 vols, in 8 vo. 1813 to 1819. 3, 
Hermes, a Journal of Magnetism, 4 vols. 8 vo. from 1826 to 
1829. 

8. A treatise on the faculty of Prevision, 8 vo. 1836. 



XVI LIFE OF DELEUZE. 

II. LITERATURE AND THE SCIENCES. 

1. The Loves of the Plants, a poem translated from the English 
of Darwin, one vol. 12 mo. 1799. 

2. Thompson's Seasons, 8 vo. and 12 mo. 1801 and 1806. 

3. Eudoxus : Conversations on the Study of the Sciences, Lit- 
erature and Philosophy, two vols. 8 vo. 1810. 

4. History and Description of the Royal Museum of Natural 
History at Paris, published by order of the administration of that 
establishment, two vols. 8 vo. 1823. 

5. Several historical euloguims of learned naturalists and cel- 
ebrated travellers, inserted in the Annals and Memoirs of the Mu- 
seum of Natural History, from 1803 to 1831 Also, several essays, 
one of which on the introduction of ornamental plants, has been 
mentioned in a very nattering manner in the poem of " The Three 
Kingdoms of Nature" by Delille. 

6. Lastly, several articles inserted in the Moniteur and other 
journals, on works of Natural History and Belles Lettres. 

Dr. Mialle thus writes in 1836. "A new era has commenced for 
Magnetism. Authentically recognised by the Royal Academy of 
Medicine in 1831, and regarded by the commission, as ' a very 
curious branch of psychology and natural history ,' it has taken 
rank among positive truths. The rising generation toill be prompt 
to cultivate the new field laid open to them. What surer guide can 
they take than the man who by the superiority of his intelligence, ike 
sagacity of his conclusions, and the example of his whole life, has 
so powerfully contributed to the triumph of this noble discovery?'' 1 



INTRODUCTION 



Several persons have requested me to publish upon 
the subject of magnetism, plain and simple instructions, 
free from all theory, and proper in all cases to direct those 
who are convinced of the reality of the agent, and who 
are at a loss how to make use of it. I am now going to 
fulfil this task, solely with the view of being useful. 

It is not the object of this work to convince men who, 
otherwise well informed, still doubt the reality of magnet- 
ism ; it is intended chiefly for those who are not engaged 
in medicine, physiology, or physics, who believe upon oral 
testimony, without having seen any person magnetized, and 
who, being persuaded that I know more than themselves 
upon the subject, wish to try my method, in order to suc- 
ceed, as I have had the happiness of doing, in curing and 
ameliorating the ills of their fellow-creatures. I shall lay 
down principles, which I believe true, without entering 
into any discussion to prove their truth. I shall avoid 
pronouncing upon that which appears doubtful ; and if I 
sometimes err in the mode of explaining things, my errors, 
appertaining solely to the theory which I have adopted to 
connect the phenomena by referring them to the same 
cause, will not affect the indication of the means to be 
taken to produce these phenomena, and derive advantage 
from them. I shall not stop to detail facts in support of 
my doctrine. I shall limit myself to the citing of a few 
of those which I have myself observed, whenever exam- 
ples shall appear necessary to the better understanding of 
my subject. 

For the purpose of obtaining a more orderly arrange- 
ment, I shall divide this instruction into chapters. 

I shall first lay down certain principles, in order to make 
2 * 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

ray instructions more plain and simple. If my manner of 
announcing these principles be somewhat hypothetical, 
there can be no change in the results. Thus I shall em- 
ploy the expression magnetic fluid, because I believe in 
the existence of a fluid, the nature of which is unknown 
to me ; but those who deny the existence of this fluid, who 
compare the action of magnetism in living beings to that 
of attraction in inanimate bodies, or who admit a spiritual 
influence without a particular agent, cannot, on that ac- 
count, contradict the consequences to which I shall ar- 
rive. The knowledge of the processes, and of all the 
conditions necessary for the efficient use of magnetism, is 
independent of the opinions which serve to explain the 
phenomena, and of which, up to the present time, none 
are susceptible of demonstration. 

My first chapter shall contain an enunciation of the 
principles which are general and applicable to all cases. 

In the second chapter, I shall teach the various pro- 
cesses which are employed in magnetizing, when som- 
nambulism does not take place. 

In the third, I shall speak of the indications which the 
first perceivable effects afford for the choice of processes. 

In the fourth, I will give information concerning the 
auxiliary means by which the force of magnetism may be 
augmented, either by communicating the magnetic virtue 
to certain bodies, or by putting magnetism in motion and 
circulation, so that several persons may at the same time ex- 
perience the action, under the direction of one magnetizer. 

In the fifth, I shall treat of somnambulism, and of the 
manner of proceeding with somnambulists. 

In the sixth, I shall speak of the precautions which the 
patient ought to take in choosing a magnetizer. 

In the seventh, of the application of magnetism to vari- 
ous diseases, and of its association with medicine. 

In the eighth, of the dangers of magnetism, and of the 
means of preventing them. 

In the ninth, of the methods of developing and fortify- 
ing in one's self the magnetic power, and of drawing from 
it all the advantages possible. 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

In the tenth and last, I shall speak of the studies which 
are appropriate to those who wish to acquire a profound 
knowledge of magnetism. 

Persons who read these ten chapters in course, will ob- 
serve that some things said in the first are repeated in the 
others, in almost the same terms. I would have avoided 
these repetitions, if I considered my work as a literary 
production. 1 have left them thus, that those who con- 
sult only one article, may find all the advice relative to 
the subject in question, without my being obliged to refer 
them to what has been already said. 

If, in some places, I permit myself to speak in a dog- 
matic style, it is not because I hold my own opinions in 
too great esteem ; it is merely for the purpose of being 
more clear and precise, and of not leaving in uncertainty 
whoever shall consent to take me for a guide. No per- 
son feels the imperfection of the work more than myself, 
since there must be in it many omissions. I will receive 
with gratitude any critical observations addressed to me, 
and will profit by them in the correction of my faults, and 
in adding to my second edition whatever may appear to 
be wanted in this first essay. 

Among the men who have devoted themselves to the 
practice of magnetism, there is a great number who have 
more intelligence and more knowledge than myself. I 
have a lively desire that the reading of this work may de- 
termine them to execute the plan I proposed to myself, 
better than I have been able to do it. I invite them to 
take from my instructions all that appears to them worthy 
of being preserved, and not to quote me except to rectify 
the errors which may have escaped my diligence. Our 
wish is to do good. This wish unites us, it identifies us, — 
so to speak, — ■ one with another. When success is obtained, 
let us enjoy it equally, whoever may be the author of it. 
It is possible for self-love to be gratified in the discovery 
of a truth, but never in having done good deeds. 

A physician who has already become celebrated, would 
perhaps increase his reputation, b} r publishing a good work 
upon magnetism. He would call attention to an order of 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

phenomena which belongs to animated nature ; he would 
found a school ; he would find disciples among his breth- 
ren in the profession. This kind of success is impossible 
for us. Our adversaries condemn us without examina- 
tion, and they exercise a great influence upon public 
opinion We have no partisans except among those to 
whom we have rendered service, and the greater part of 
them dare not raise their voice. Happily, their number 
increases every day ; and that should sustain our courage 
and our hopes. Let us continue, then, to work in con- 
cert, to spread abroad the knowledge of magnetism, with- 
out disputation, without fear, and without the spirit of 
system. Let us banish the abuses and the dangers which 
may attend the use of it. Let us collect the materials of 
a beneficent science. The time will arrive when a man 
of genius will reunite all these materials, and rear an edi- 
fice which time cannot overthrow.* 

* This was written in 1825. Since that time, in 1831, the Royal 
Academy of Medicine, through their committee, whose report is 
worthy of study as a model of accurate philosophical investigation, 
pronounced upon the subject an opinion, which has changed the 
popular feeling, in France, in relation to it. Its existence, as a pe- 
culiar faculty of the human mind, is no longer a matter of question, 
among men of science who have witnessed its phenomena. The ex- 
tent of its utility is now a question worthy of profound investigation, 
and not to be settled by men who never think, and who decide with- 
out looking into its merits. Theses on Mesmerism have been writ- 
ten, in Paris, by candidates for the degree of M. D. ; one of which, 
in 1842, was dedicated to Prof. Orfila, dean of the medical academy. 
Orfila and Arago — names of which France has reason to be proud — 
have devoted attention to this subject. The former, on witnessing 
some of its results, declared that they ought to be proclaimed to the 
world from the top of the French Institute. Dr. Lordat, in his recent 
work on Human Physiology, assigns to it a high place among the 
phenomena appertaining to man's organization. The evidences in 
favor of its utility are so abundant in European works of high au- 
thority, that an ignorance of its true history, which is not to be found 
in the Encyclopedias, may be deemed singular in men of good in- 
formation, and disgraceful if they suffer themselves to oppose it 
through incurious prejudice. In this vicinity, it receives the support 
of medical practitioners of unquestionable skill. It should always 
be in the hands of such, or administered under their direction. To 
promote this object, and to recall the public attention from the curi- 
ous phenomena to the true use of it, the translator has given the in- 
structions of the venerable Deleuze an English dress. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM 



CHAPTER I. 



GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES 

1. Man has the faculty of exercising over his fellow- 
men a salutary influence, in directing towards them, by his 
will, the vital principle. 

2. The name of Magnetism has been given to this fac- 
ulty : it is an extension of the power which all living beings 
have, of acting upon those who are submitted to their will. 

3. We perceive this faculty only by the results ; and we 
make no use of it, except as far as we will to use it. 

4. The first condition of action, then, is to exercise 
the will. 

5. As we cannot comprehend how a body can act upon 
another at a distance, without there being something to 
establish a communication between them, we suppose that 
a substance emanates from him who magnetizes, and is 
conveyed to the person magnetized, in the direction given 
it by the will. This substance, which sustains life in us, 
we call the magnetic fluid. The nature of this fluid is un- 
known ; even its existence has not been demonstrated ; but 
every thing occurs as if it did exist, and that warrants us 
in admitting it, while we are indicating the means of em- 
ploying magnetism. 

6. Man is composed of a body and a soul ; and the in- 
fluence he exerts participates the properties of both. It 
follows that there are three actions in magnetism : first, 
physical ; second, spiritual ; third, mixed action. It will 



22 GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. [CHAP. I 

soon be seen how easy it is to distinguish the phenomena 
which belong to each. 

7. If the will is necessary to direct the fluid, belief is 
necessary to induce one to make a firm and steady use of 
the faculties he possesses. Confidence in the power we 
possess, makes us act without effort and without distrac- 
tion. As to the rest, confidence is only the consequence 
of belief: it differs in this only — one believes himself to 
be endowed with a power whose reality he does not doubt. 

8. In order that one individual may act upon another, 
there must exist between them a moral and physical sym- 
pathy ; as there is between all the members of an animated 
body. Physical sympathy is established by means which 
we shall indicate ; moral sympathy, by the desire of doing; 
good to one who desires to receive it; or by ideas and 
wishes which, occupying them both equally, form between 
them a communication of sentiments. When this sympa- 
thy is well established between two individuals, we saj 
they are in communication. 

9. Thus the first condition of magnetizing is the will ; 
the second is the confidence which the magnetizer has in 
his own powers ; the third is benevolence, or the desire of 
doing good. One of these qualities may supply the others 
to a certain point ; but to have the action at the same time 
energetic and salutary, the three conditions must be united. 

10. The magnetic fluid may not only act directly upon 
the person whom we wish to magnetize, but it may also be 
conveyed to him by an intermediate body, which we have 
charged with this fluid, to which we have given a determi- 
nate direction. 

11. The direct action of magnetism ceases when the 
magnetizer ceases to will ; but the direction given by mag- 
netism does not cease in that case, and the most trifling 
circumstance sometimes suffices to renew the phenomena 
which it first produced. 

12. A constant will supposes continued attention ; but 
attention is sustained without effort when one has entire 
confidence in his powers. A man who makes towards a 
designated goal, is always attentive to avoid obstacles, to 
move his feet in a proper direction ; but this sort of atten- 
tion is so natural to him as to be easy, because he has first* 



CHAP. I.] GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. 23 

determined his movement, and feels in himself the force 
necessary to continue it. 

13. The action of the magnetic fluid, being relative to 
the direction given it, will be salutary only so far as it 
is accompanied with a good intention. 

14. Magnetism, or the action of magnetism, springs 
from three things: first, the will to act; second, a sign, 
the expression of that will ; third, confidence in the means 
employed. If the desire of doing good be not united to the 
will to act, there will be some effects, but these effects will 
be irregular. 

15. The fluid which emanates from the magnetizer, 
exercises a physical influence upon the patient ; hence it 
follows that the magnetizer ought to be in good health. 
This influence exerting, in the course of time, an effect 
upon the moral condition of the patient, it follows that the 
magnetizer ought to be worthy of esteem for the upright- 
ness of his mind, the purity of his sentiments, and the 
honesty of his character. The knowledge of this principle 
is equally important for those who magnetize, and for those 
who are the subjects of magnetism. 

16. The faculty of magnetizing exists in all persons ; 
but all do not possess it in the same degree. This differ- 
ence of magnetic power in various individuals, arises from 
the superiority which some have over others in moral and 
physical qualities. Among the moral qualities are, confi- 
dence in one's own power; energy of will ; facility in sustain- 
ing and concentrating the attention; the sentiment of benev- 
olence, which unites us to every suffering being ; strength of 
mind, enabling one to remain calm in the midst of the most 
alarming crises ; patience, which prevents uneasiness in a 
long and painful struggle ; disinterestedness, which makes 
one forget himself, and devote himself to the being whom 
he attends, and which banishes vanity, and even curiosity. 
Of physical qualifications, the first is good health, the next 
a peculiar power, different from that which raises burdens 
or moves heavy bodies, and of which we recognize the 
existence and the degree of energy in ourselves, only by 
the trial we make of it. 

17. Therefore there are men who have a magnetic 
power very superior to that of others. It is so great in 
some persons, that they are obliged to moderate it. 



24 GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. [CHAP. , 

18. The magnetic virtue develops itself by exercise, 
and a person uses it with more facility and success when 
he has acquired the habit of exerting it. 

19. Although the magnetic fluid escapes from all the 
body, and the will suffices to give it direction, the external 
organs, by which we act, are the most proper to throw it off 
with the intention determined by the will. For this reason, 
we make use of our hands and of our eyes to magnetize. 
The word which indicates our will, can often exert an ac- 
tion when the communication is well established. The 
very tones of the magnetizer, being produced by the vital 
energy, act upon the organs of the patients. 

20. The magnetic action can be conveyed to very great 
distances ; but it acts in that manner only with persons who 
are perfectly in communication. 

21. All men are not sensible to the magnetic action; 
and the same persons are more or less so, according to the 
temporary dispositions in which they are found. 

Magnetism generally exercises no influence upon 
persons in health. The same man who was insensible to 
it in a state of good health, will experience the effects of 
it when ill. There are diseases in which the action of 
magnetism is not perceived ; there are others in which it is 
evident. We do not yet know enough of it to determine 
the cause of these anomalies, nor to pronounce beforehand 
whether magnetism will or will not act. We have only 
certain probabilities in regard to it ; but that should not 
create an objection to the reality of magnetism, since at 
least three fourths of the patients feel the effects of it. 

22. Nature has established a communion or a physical 
sympathy between certain individuals. It is for this reason 
that many magnetizers act much more promptly and more 
efficaciously upon certain patients than upon others, and 
that the same magnetizer does not agree equally with all 
patients. There are even some of them who are more 
powerful over certain maladies. Some persons think them- 
selves insensible to the action of magnetism, because they 
have not met a magnetizer congenial to them. 

23. The magnetic virtue exists equally, and in the same 
degree, in the two sexes ; and women ought to be preferred 
as magnetizers of women, for several reasons, which we 
shall mention. 



CHAP. I.] GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. 25 

24. Many persons feel much fatigue when they mag- 
netize ; others do not feel any. This is not owing to the 
movements that are made, but to the loss of the vital prin- 
ciple or magnetic fluid. He who is not endowed with 
great magnetic force, would exhaust himself in the course 
of time, if he were to magnetize every day for several 
hours. Generally speaking, every one in good health, and 
not enfeebled by age, might undertake the treatment of a 
single patient, and give him a sitting of one hour each day. 
But every one has not the strength necessary for magnet- 
izing several persons, nor several hours in succession. As 
to the rest, the more one exercises himself in it, the less he 
is fatigued; because he employs only just as much force 
as is necessary. 

25. Children over seven years of age magnetize very 
well, when they have witnessed the operation. They act 
by imitation, with an entire confidence, with a determined 
will, without effort, without being distracted by the least 
doubt, or by curiosity, and they very well and very quickly 
remove a casual ailment. They learn to magnetize as 
they learn to walk, and they are moved by the desire of 
soothing him for whom they have an affection ; but they 
ought not to be permitted to do it, because it would injure 
their growth and weaken them. 

26. Confidence, which is an essential condition with 
the magnetizer, is not necessary in the person magnetized. 
One can act equally upon those who believe, and upon 
those who do not believe, in magnetism. It suffices if the 
patient yields himself up passively, making no resistance. 
Nevertheless, confidence contributes to the efficaciousness 
of magnetism, as it does to that of most remedies. 

27. In general, magnetism acts in a more sensible and 
efficacious manner upon persons who have led a simple 
and frugal life, and who have not been agitated by passions, 
than upon those with whom the course of nature has been 
troubled, either by habits of luxury or by remedies. Mag- 
netism does no more than to employ, regulate, and direct 
the forces of nature. The more the course of nature has 
been interrupted by foreign agents, the more difficult it is for 
the magnetizer to reestablish it. Magnetism, therefore, 
cures much more promptly, and much better, persons who 
reside in the country, and children, than those who have 

3 



26 GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. [CHAP. U 

lived in the world, who have taken much medicine, and 
whose nerves are irritated. Nervous persons, when mag- 
netism has once gained empire over them, present the most 
singular phenomena, but much fewer cures, especially radi- 
cal cures. 

28. Magnetism having for its object the developement 
of what physicians call the forces mcdicatrices, — -that is to 
say, the seconding of the efforts that nature makes to re- 
lieve itself, and the facilitating of the cures to which it is 
disposed, — it is essential to act constantly in aid of nature, 
and never to oppose it. Whence it follows that people 
ought not to magnetize through curiosity, nor to exhibit 
the power with which they are endowed, nor to produce 
surprising effects, nor to convince the incredulous; but 
solely for the purpose of doing good, and in cases where it 
is thought to be useful. It follows also that the magnetic 
zer ought to employ his power with economy. He ought 
to be exempt from vanity, from curiosity, from interest. 
One only sentiment ought to animate him, — the desire of 
doing good to him whose cure he undertakes, and with 
whom he ought to occupy himself wholly, all the time he 
is magnetizing him. He ought not to search out any ex- 
traordinary effect, but to know how to take advantage of 
the crises which nature, sustained by magnetism, produces 
of itself for promoting the cure. 

29. Although the choice of this or of that process is 
not essential in order to direct the action of magnetism, it 
is useful to adopt a method, and to follow it habitually 
without thinking of it, so as never to be embarrassed, and 
to lose time in searching what motions it is most proper to 
make. 

30. When one has acquired the habit of concentrating 
his attention, and of abstracting himself from every thing 
foreign to the object he has in view, he will feel in himself 
an instinctive impulse to convey the action to this or to 
that organ, and to modify it according to circumstances. 
It is necessary to obey this impulse, without searching into 
the cause of it. When the patient yields himself entirely 
to the action of magnetism, without being distracted by 
other ideas, it often happens that a similar instinct causes 
him to indicate the processes which are the most proper 
for him ; the magnetizer should then suffer himself to be 
directed. 



CHAP. I.] GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. 27 

31. Magnetism often excites pain in that part of the 
body where the disease is located. It renews old and 
slumbering pains. These pains are produced by the efforts 
which nature makes to triumph over the malady. We 
ought not to be troubled on their account ; they are but 
transient, and the patient always finds himself better after 
having experienced them. This is what distinguishes the 
pains which are called critical, from those which are pro- 
duced by the progress of the disease. 

32. When any crisis takes place, it is very dangerous 
to interrupt or trouble it. We will explain what we mean 
by crises, and designate the various kinds of them. 

33. Before undertaking a magnetic treatment, the mag- 
netizer ought to examine himself. He ought to ask him- 
self whether he can continue it, and whether the patient or 
!•; »se who have influence over him, will put any obstacle 
in the way. He ought not to undertake it if he feels any 
repugnance, or if he fears to catch the disease. To act 
efficaciously, he should feel himself drawn towards the 
person who requires his care, take an interest in him, and 
have the desire and the hope of curing, or at least relieving 
him. As soon as he has decided, which he should never 
do lightly, he ought to consider him whom he magnetizes 
as his brother, as his friend; he should be so devoted to 
him as not to perceive the sacrifices that he imposes upon 
himself. Any other consideration, any other motive than 
the desire of doing good, ought not to induce him to under- 
take a treatment. 

34. The faculty of magnetizing, or that of doing good 
to our fellow-creatures by the influence of the will, by the 
communication of the principle that sustains our health 
and life, being the most delightful and most precious that 
God has given to man, he ought to regard the employment 
of it as a religious act, which demands the greatest self- 
collectedness, and the greatest purity of intention. — Hence 
it is a sort of profanation to magnetize for amusement, 
through curiosity, or through the desire of displaying sin- 
gular effects. They who demand experiments to see a 
spectacle, know not what they demand ; but the magneti- 
zer ought to know it, to respect himself, and to preserve 
tiis dignity. 



28 



CHAPTER II. 



OF THE PROCESSES IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 

The principles we have given in the preceding chapter 
are essential, invariable ; and, in all cases, the power and 
efficacy of magnetism depend upon their application. The 
processes of which we are about to speak, are not alike 
employed by all magnetizers. Many of them follow pecu- 
liar ones ; but, whatever method they pursue, the results 
are nearly the same. The processes, however, ought to be 
diversified according to circumstances. We are often de- 
termined in the choice, not only by the kind of disease, but 
by a regard to convenience and other circumstances, and 
even by the desire of avoiding what might appear extraor- 
dinary. What I am about to say is useless to persons who 
have acquired the habit of magnetizing. Let them con- 
tinue to follow the method which has constantly issued in 
the comforting or the curing* of their patients. I write 
for those who, not yet knowing any thing about it, are em- 
barrassed in the exercise of a faculty whose existence they 
do not doubt ; and I am about to teach them the manner 
of magnetizing which I adopted after having received in- 
struction, and after having collected and made observations 
during thirty-five years. 

When a sick person desires you to attempt to cure him 
by magnetism, and neither the physician nor the family 
make objection to it, if you feel the desire to second his 
wishes, and are resolved to continue the treatment so long 
as it shall be necessary, settle with him the hour of the 
sittings, make him promise to be exact, not to limit him- 
self to an attempt of a few days, to conform himself to your 
advice in relation to regimen, and not to speak of the 

* I add the words comforting and curing, because every method 
having for its object the production of surprising effects, or to show 
the power of the magnetizer, is essentially vicious. 



CHAP. II.] PROCESSES IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 29 

undertaking except to persons who ought naturally to be 
informed of it 

When you are once agreed, and determined to treat the 
thing seriously, remove from the patient all persons who 
would be troublesome ; do not keep near you any except 
necessary witnesses, (one only, if it can be so,) and request 
of them not to occupy themselves at all with the processes 
you employ, nor with the effects that follow, but to unite 
with you in the intention of doing good to the patient 
Arrange things so as not to be too cold nor too warm, so 
that nothing shall interfere with the freedom of your move- 
ments, and take precautions to prevent all interruptions 
during the sitting. 

Cause your patient to sit down in the easiest position 
possible, and place yourself before him, on a seat a little 
more elevated, so that his knees may be between yours, 
and your feet by the side of his. Demand of him, in the 
first place, that he give himself up entirely ; that he think 
of nothing ; that he do not trouble himself by examining 
the effects which he experiences ; that he banish all fear, 
and indulge hope ; and that he be not disquieted or dis- 
couraged if the action of magnetism produces in him tem- 
porary pains. 

After you have brought yourself to a state of self-collect- 
edness, take his thumbs between your two fingers, so that 
the inside of your thumbs may touch the inside of his. 
Remain in this situation from two to five minutes, or until 
you perceive there is an equal degree of heat between 
your thumbs and his ; that being done, you will withdraw 
your hands, removing them to the right and left, and wav- 
ing them so that the interior surface be turned outwards, 
and raise them to his head ; then place them upon his two 
shoulders, leaving them there about a minute ; you will 
then draw them along the arm to the extremity of the fin- 
gers, touching lightly. You will repeat this pass * five or 
six times, always turning your hands, and sweeping them 
off a little, before reascending ; you will then place your 
hands upon the head, hold them there a moment, and 
bring them down before the face, at the distance of one or 

* I employ here the word pass, which is common to all magnet- 
izers ; it signifies all the movements made by the hand in passing 
over the body, whether by slightly touching, or at a distance. 

3* 



30 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

two inches, as far as the pit of the stomach ; there you 
will let them remain about two minutes, passing the thumb 
along the pit of the stomach, and the other fingers down 
the sides. Then descend slowly along the body as far as 
the knees, or farther ; and, if you can conveniently, as far 
as the ends of the feet. You may repeat the same pro- 
cesses during the greater part of the sitting. You may 
sometimes draw nearer to the patient, so as to place your 
hands behind his shoulders, descending slowly along the 
spine, thence to the hips, and along the thighs as far as 
the knees, or to the feet. After the first passes, you may 
dispense with putting your hands upon the head, and make 
the succeeding passes along the arms, beginning at the 
shoulder; or along the body, commencing at the stomach. 
/ When you wish to put an end to the sitting, take care 
to draw towards the extremity of the hands, and towards 
the extremity of the feet, prolonging your passes beyond 
these extremities, and shaking your fingers each time. 
Finally, make several passes transversely before the face, 
and also before the breast, at the distance of three or four 
inches ; these passes are made by presenting the two hands 
together, and briskly drawing them from each other, as if 
to carry oiF the superabundance of fluid with which the 
. patient may be charged. You see that it is essential to 
magnetize, always descending from the head to the extrem- 
ities, and never mounting from the extremities to the head. 
It is on this account that we turn the hands obliquely when 
they are raised again from the feet to the head. The de- 
scending passes are magnetic ; that is, they are accompa- 
nied with the intention of magnetizing. The ascending 
movements are not. Many magnetizers shake their fingers 
slightly after each pass. This method, which is never in- 
jurious, is in certain cases advantageous ; and for this rea- 
son it is good to get the habit of doing it. 

Although you may have, at the close of the sitting, taken 
care to spread the fluid over all the surface of the body, it 
is proper, in finishing, to make several passes along the 
legs from the knees to the end of the feet. These passes 
free the head. To make them more conveniently, place 
yourself on your knees in front of the person whom you 
are magnetizing. 

I think it proper to distinguish the passes that are made 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 31 

without touching, from those which are made with the 
touch, not only with the ends of the fingers, but with all 
the extent of the hand, employing, at the same time, a slight 
pressure. I give to these last the name of magnetic fric- 
tions. They are often made use of to act better upon the 
arms, the legs, and the back, along the vertebral column. 

This manner of magnetizing by longitudinal passes, 
directing the fluid from the head to the extremities, without 
fixing upon any part in preference to others, is called mag- 
netizing by the long pass, (magnetiser a grands courans.) 
It is more or less proper in all cases, and it is requisite to 
employ it in the first sitting, when there is no special reason 
for using any other. The fluid is thus distributed into all 
the organs, and it accumulates naturally in those which 
have need of it. Besides the passes made at a short dis- 
tance, others are made, just before finishing, at the distance 
of two or three feet. They generally produce a calm, re- 
freshing, and pleasurable sensation. 

There is one more process by which it is very advanta- 
geous to terminate the sitting. It consists in placing one's 
self by the side of the patient, as he stands up, and, at the 
distance of a foot, making with both hands, one before the 
body and the other behind, seven or eight passes, com- 
mencing above the head, and descending to the floor, along 
which the hands are spread apart. This process frees the 
head, reestablishes the equilibrium, and imparts strength. 

When the magnetizer acts upon the patient, they are 
said to be in communication, (rapport.) That is to say, we 
mean by the word communication, a peculiar and induced 
condition, which causes the magnetizer to exert an influ- 
ence upon the patient, there being between them a com- 
munication of the vital principle. 

This communication is sometimes established very soon, 
and sometimes after a long trial. This depends upon the 
moral and physical conditions of the two individuals. It is 
rare not to have it established at the first sitting. Expe- 
rienced magnetizers generally perceive it in themselves 
when this takes place. 

When once the communication is well established, the 
action is renewed in the succeeding sittings, at the instant 
of beginning to magnetize. Then, if you wish to act upon 
the breast, the stomach, or the abdomen, there is no utility 



32 OP THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

in touching, provided it is not found more convenient. 
Ordinarily magnetism acts as well, and even better, in the 
interior of the body, at the distance of one or two inches, 
than by the touch. It is enough, at the commencement of 
the sitting, to take the thumbs a moment. Sometimes it is 
necessary to magnetize at the distance of several feet. 
Magnetism at a distance is more soothing, and some ner- 
vous persons cannot bear any other. 

In making the passes, it is unnecessary to employ any 
greater muscular force than what is required to lift the 
hand and prevent it from falling. The movements should 
be easy, and not too rapid. A pass from the head to the 
feet may take about half a minute. The fingers ought to 
be a little separated from each other, and slightly bent, so 
that the ends of the fingers be directed towards the person 
magnetized. 

It is by the ends of the fingers, and especially by the 
thumbs, that the fluid escapes with the most activity. For 
this reason it is, we take the thumbs of the patient in the 
first place, and hold them whenever we are at rest. This 
process generally suffices to establish the communication ; 
to strengthen which there is also one other process. It 
consists in placing your ten fingers against those of the 
patient, so that the inside of your hands are brought near 
to the inside of his, and the balls of your fingers touch the 
balls of his. The fluid seems to flow less copiously from 
the back of the hands than from the inside ; and this is 
one of the reasons for turning the hands in raising them, 
without carrying them off too far from the body. 

The processes I have now indicated are the most regu- 
lar and advantageous for magnetism by the long pass: but 
it is far from being always proper, or even possible, to em- 
ploy them. When a man magnetizes a woman, even if it 
were his sister, it might not be proper to place himself be- 
fore her in the manner described ; and also when a patient 
is obliged to keep his bed, it would be impossible to make 
him sit, in order to sit in front of him. 

In the first case, you can place yourself by the side of 
the person whom you wish to magnetize. First, take the 
thumbs, and, the better to establish the communication, 
place one hand upon the stomach, and the other upon the 
back ; then lower the two hands opposite to each other, one 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 33 

down the back, and the other at a distance down the fore- 
part of the body, one hand descending to the feet. You 
may magnetize the two arms, one after the other, with one 
hand only. 

In case the patient cannot raise himself, take your sta- 
tion near his bed in the most convenient manner ; take his 
thumbs, make several passes along the arms, and, if he 
can support himself upright, several along the back ; then, 
not to fatigue yourself, use only one hand, placing it upon 
the stomach, and making longitudinal passes, at first slightly 
touching through the clothes, then at a distance. You can 
hold one hand fixed upon the knees or upon the feet, while 
the other is in motion. Finish by passes along the legs, 
and by transversal passes before the head, the breast, and 
the stomach, to scatter the superabundant fluid. When 
the communication is established, one can magnetize very 
well by placing himself at the foot of the patient's bed, and 
in front of him ; then directing, at that distance, both hands 
from the head to the feet, dashing them aside after each 
pass, so as not to conduct the fluid to himself. I have pro- 
duced somnambulism by this process, without establishing 
the communication by touching. 

This is what I have to say about magnetism by the long 
pass, with which it is always proper to commence, and to 
which a person may confine himself until he has a reason 
for employing other processes. 

Let us now consider the circumstances which point out 
particular processes. 

When any one has a local pain, it is natural, after estab- 
lishing, a communication, to carry the magnetic action to 
the suffering part. It is not by passing the hands over the 
arms that we undertake to cure a sciatic ; it is not by put- 
ting the hand upon the stomach that we can dissipate a 
pain in the knee. Here are some principles to guide us. 

The magnetic fluid, when motion is given to it, draws 
along with it the blood, the humors, and the cause of the 
complaint. For example, if one has the headache, owing 
to the tendency of the blood to the head, if the forehead be 
hot and the feet very cold, by making a few passes from 
the head to the feet, and others along the legs, the head is 
relieved, and the feet become warm. If one has a pain in 
the shoulder, and the magnetizer makes passes from the 



34 OP THE PROCESSES [CHAP. 11. 

shoulder to the end of the fingers, the pain will descend 
with the hand ; it stops sometimes at the elbow, or at the 
wrist, and goes off by the hands, in which a slight perspira- 
tion is perceived; before it is entirely dissipated, a pain is 
sometimes felt in the lower part of the bowels. Magnetism 
seems to chase away and bear off with it what disturbs the 
equilibrium, and its action ceases when the equilibrium is 
restored. It is useless to search out the causes of these 
facts ; it is sufficient that experience has established them, 
for us to conduct ourselves accordingly, when we have no 
reason to do otherwise. 

The following rule, with some exceptions, may thence 
be established : — 

Accumulate and concentrate the magnetic fluid upon 
the suffering part ; then draw off the pain towards the ex- 
tremities. 

For example, do you desire to cure a pain in the shoul- 
der 1 Hold your hand upon the shoulder for several minutes ; 
then descend, and after having quitted the ends of the fin- 
gers, recommence patiently the same process. Would you 
cure a pain in the stomach? Place your hands several 
minutes upon the stomach, and descend to the knees. You 
will accumulate the fluid by holding your hands still ; by 
bringing them down, you will draw away both the fluid 
and the pain at the same time. 

If your patient be troubled with an obstruction, place 
your hand upon the seat of it ; leave it there for some time, 
either immovable or making a circular motion, and draw it 
along towards the extremities. If the obstruction does not 
occupy a great space, present your fingers near, without 
uniting them, because it is principally by the points that 
the fluid escapes. Turn them aside when you bring them 
away, and then wave them towards the extremities. You 
may be assured that the motions you make externally will 
operate sympathetically in the interior of the patient's 
body, wherever you have sent the fluid into it. 

If any one has received a blow behind the head, pro- 
ducing a contusion, take the head between your two hands, 
conveying the action of your will to the seat of the injury. 
Then bring your hand down along the back, if the contu- 
sion is behind the head ; or down the forepart of the body 
to the knees, if it is in the front of it ; or along the arm, if 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 35 

it is on the side. You will thus prevent the blood from 
tending to the head , you will avoid the danger of inflam- 
mation, and probably render bleeding unnecessary. If you 
wish to cure a burn, chilblains, or a felon, follow the same 
process. The examples I have just cited may be applied 
to most cases. I think that, in general, contact is useful 
to concentrate the action, and that passes at a short dis- 
tance are preferable for establishing and maintaining the 
magnetic currents. Magnetic frictions are employed with 
advantage in pains of the limbs. 

In the headache, if the pain is very great, and if there 
be heat, after having placed your hands upon the head for 
some time, withdraw them, as if you believed the fluid you 
have introduced to be united to that of the patient, that the 
mingled fluid stuck to your hands, and that, in separating 
your hands and shaking your fingers, you could draw it off 
again ; it is in effect what you will see verified. If the 
headache proceed from the stomach, this process alone will 
not succeed ; it will be necessary to act upon the stomach. 
If the blood tends to the head, it will be requisite, as I 
have said, to draw it down, and repeat the passes over the 
legs and over the ket. 

I have said that the fingers, brought near and pointed 
towards the part, act more powerfully, and concentrate the 
fluid better, than the extended hand. There is one other 
process, the action of which is much stronger, and which 
may be employed with success for local pains and for ob- 
structions. 

Place a piece of linen, several times folded, or a frag- 
ment of woollen or cotton cloth, upon the suffering part ; 
apply the mouth above it, and breathe through it ; it excites 
a lively sensation of heat ; and the breath, which is charged 
with the magnetic fluid, introduces it into the system. It 
is also observed that the heat is not merely at the surface, 
as that of hot iron would be, but it penetrates into the in- 
terior. After having employed this process, make the 
usual passes to draw off and expel the pain. 

Blowing cold air from the mouth at a distance, produces 
a refreshing effect. It helps to dissipate the heat, which is 
withdrawn by presenting the fingers, taking care to sepa- 
rate them as you draw them off, in the usual manner. 

The head may also be cooled by putting the palm of the 



36 OP THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

hands upon it, and holding the fingers elevated and sepa- 
rate. The fluid passes off at the ends of the fingers. 

It is often impossible to draw a pain far from the part 
where it is fixed; and you will succeed solely by driving it 
off progressively and gradually. A pain upon the top of 
the head will be lessened at first in the centre, by waving 
the hands downward and outward, on the right and left. 
At every pass, a portion will be dislodged and carried off 
It will take more or less time to dissipate it entirely. 

I will not here relate the details given by M. Kluge, Pro- 
fessor in the Medical School of Berlin, upon the various 
kinds of manipulation.* What has been said, suffices to 
indicate the processes that may be employed when no per- 
ceivable effect has been produced. I will merely add, that 
the action is more lively and penetrating by the digital 
manipulation, — that is, when one presents the ends of the 
fingers, — than when he presents the hands open and the 
fingers straight, so as to have the fluid pass from all the in- 
terior surface. Manipulation with the open hand at a dis- 
tance, is a process generally used to soothe ; it is often 
sufficient to appease the sharpest pains. The fingers, uni- 
ted to a point, concentrate the action upon the part towards 
which they are directed. 

I am now going to recapitulate, in few words, what I 
have said upon magnetism with the long pass, by indicat- 
ing the processes which are the most convenient at the 
commencement, during, and at the termination, of the 
sitting. 

1. Establish the communication by holding the thumbs, 
placing the hands upon the shoulders, and making passes 
along the arms with a light pressure, and placing the hands 
upon the stomach, 2. Direct the current from the head 
to the feet, or at least to the knees. Touching is useless. 
3. Make passes, or else magnetic frictions, along the legs, 
to the extremity of the feet ; soothe the patient by several 
passes at a distance with the open hand ; and, finally, throw 
off the superabundant fluid, by a few transversal passes. 
The first sittings ought to be about an hour in duration, 
when there is no reason to prolong or abridge them. I say 

* In the German work, entitled "Animal Magnetism as a Curative 
Means." Vienna, 1815. 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 37 

the first sittings, because a part of the time is consumed 
in establishing the communication. As soon 'as that has 
been once well established, the action of magnetism is 
manifested at the first moment; then a sitting of half an 
hour, or three quarters, provided the labor commenced is 
duly sustained, will be sufficient. 

It is necessary to order the treatment in the most uniform 
and regular manner possible. The sittings must be period- 
ical, and equal in duration. The magnetizer must be 
calm and self-collected ; all foreign influence must be ban- 
ished : all curious persons excluded, and also every other 
witness except the one chosen at first. There must be a 
similar degree of magnetic power exerted at each sitting, 
and the mode of procedure first adopted must be contin- 
ued. Nevertheless, when the patient experiences sensa- 
tions, these often determine the operator to vary or to 
modify the processes. This, then, is the place to speak of 
these effects, and of the indications they afford of the man- 
ner of proceeding.* 

Before entering upon the details, I think it important to 
combat an opinion which appears to me entirely erroneous, 
although it is maintained by men well versed in the knowl- 
edge of magnetism ; namely, that the processes are in them- 
selves indifferent ; that they serve only to fix the attention, 
and that the will alone does all. People have been led to 
adopt this idea, at the sight of a phenomenon which some 
somnambulists present, and by the application of a particu- 
lar case to a general theory. 

There are some somnambulists perfectly concentrated, 
whose interior faculties are so energetic as to act upon 
themselves by their own power, and conformably to the will 
communicated to them by their magnetizer. The magnet- 
izer causes a headache or a sideache to cease, simply be- 
cause he wills it. There are likewise men endowed with 
such magnetic power, that they can act upon patients who 
are very susceptible, and in perfect communication with 

* Many magnetizers experience sensations which ought of neces- 
sity to govern them in the choice of processes. But as this precious 
faculty is not common to all, I shall in another chapter speak of the 
means of developin it in ourselves, and of the advantages arising 
from it. 

4 



38 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

them, while directing the action upon this or that part, by 
the thought and by the look ; but these cases are extremely 
rare, and no conclusions can be drawn from them for ordi- 
nary practice. 

The processes are nothing, if they are not in unison with 
a determined intention. We may even say they are not 
the cause of the magnetic action; but it is indisputable 
that they are necessary for directing and concentrating, and 
that they ought to be varied according to the end one has 
in view. 

Somnambulists point out for themselves processes altogeth- 
er different, according to the seat of the disease ; and when 
they advise a patient to have recourse to magnetism, they 
take great care to prescribe to him the processes he ought 
to employ. It is certain that, by proper processes, and not 
by the will only, one is able to displace a pain, to make it 
descend, to accelerate the circulation of the blood, to dis- 
sipate an obstruction, and to restore the equilibrium. There 
are cases when one does much good by placing his hands 
upon the knees, though he would do much injury by hold- 
ing them long upon the stomach. Numbness, heaviness, 
disagreeable sensations, are produced by charging the head 
too much. It is often necessary to scatter the fluid at the 
close of a sitting, and to withdraw it by the extremities, in 
order to relieve him who is overcharged with it. 

When I said that a method different from mine might 
succeed equally well, I intended to say that each one might 
modify the processes according to his own views and prac- 
tice; but not that he could omit them, or employ them in 
a manner contrary to the general rules. For example, va- 
rious magnetizers act equally well by passes, more gentle, 
or more rapid ; by contact, or at a distance ; by holding 
the hands to the same place, or by establishing currents. 
But it is absurd to believe one can cure chilblains on the 
feet by placing the hands on the breast. 

There are some general processes that are employed at 
the commencement ; there are others, that are suggested 
by circumstances, or by the effects first produced. We 
shall discourse of these in the next chapter. 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 



JNOTE I. 

I have often remarked that persons who are not in the habit 
of magnetizing think they ought to exert a great deal of force ; 
for which purpose, they contract their muscles, and make efforts 
of attention and will. This method is not good ; it is often inju- 
rious. When the will is calm and constant, and the attention 
sustained by the interest we take in the patient, the most salutary 
effects ensue, without our giving ourselves the least pain. There 
are cases when it is necessary to make a violent effort, to oppose 
a false direction, to vanquish an obstacle, to sustain or terminate 
a crisis. We may then have need of extraordinary power ; but it 
is never at the commencement of a treatment, that we are obliged 
to have recourse to it. A person ought not to fatigue himself by 
magnetic processes ; he will experience fatigue enough from the 
loss of the vital fluid. 



NOTE II. 

I have said that, at the close of each sitting, it is proper to re- 
lieve the patient of the superabundant fluid, by making transver- 
sal passes, and passes beyond the extremities; and have hinted 
that it is sometimes better to draw off the fluid from the patient, 
instead of charging him with that of another ; but I neglected to 
insist upon this point, and to show the case where that negative 
method is of great importance. I will explain my views on this 
subject 

When there is a great excitement of the nervous system, a 
great irritation, or a tendency to inflammation, you will always 
produce a soothing effect in drawing away the fluid. It also fre- 
quently happens that the ailment is drawn away with the fluid. 
Thus, in the inflammation of the brain, it is proper to begin the 
passes at the lower part of the head, to draw it out either by the 
sides or by the top. I will cite a remarkable fact, to which I 
was an eye-witness. 

M. H***, a mate of a vessel, went several days ago to see M. 
N # **, of whom I shall soon make mention. About five years 
ago, he had a stroke of the sun, (coup de soleil,) and since that 
period, he has frequently felt violent pains in the head. One 
day, when this pain caused him intense suffering, M. N # ** 
thought of filling a glass with magnetized water, of covering it 
with linen cloth, so that, in turning it over, the water might not 
spill out; and he applied it, thus inverted, to the back part of the 
head of M. H***, who leaned down for that purpose. Then he 
made passes from the head to the tumbler, to draw off the fluid 



40 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. I*. 

and make it enter the water. M. H*** felt something pass from 
his head towards the inverted glass. He told me it was just like 
drawing out a fine stream of water. In five minutes, the pain 
ceased entirely. I do- not know whether it will ever return ; but 
there is no doubt that the same means will succeed in causing it 
to disappear. 

You might, in many circumstances, apply this process, which 
ought to be accompanied with the proper intention. I believe 
that if, after the operation, any one had drunk the water con- 
tained in the glass, he would have experienced very disagreeable 
effects from it. 



NOTE 111. 

A short time after Mesmer, who explained all the phenomena 
of magnetism by causes purely physical, some persons, going into 
the opposite extreme, substituted, in the place of this theory, a 
system of spiritualism. M. le Chevalier de Barbarin, a very pious 
man, but probably too much devoted to mystical ideas, pretended 
that all processes were useless, and that faith and the will were 
sufficient to operate prodigies. Those who adopted his opinions, 
had recourse to prayers at the patients' bed-side, and often suc- 
ceeded in curing them. The success they obtained, proves noth- 
ing to support their principles ; and the state of concentration 
which this method demands, might give rise to bad consequences. 
Our spirit is the principle of voluntary movements ; it gives im- 
pulse to the nervous fluid ; but so long as it is united to organ- 
ized matter, it is destined to act externally, by the aid of the or- 
gans, either immediately, or by the emanation which is conveyed 
to a distance, like the rays from a luminous body. I have inter- 
dicted myself from all theory, and I would have been silent upon 
the opinions of the spiritualists, if there were not, at this time, 
men of good intentions, who, disdaining magnetism, undertake to 
treat patients by practices which they think mm-e powerful and 
more efficacious. They obtain cures, undoubtedly ; they produce 
ecstatic somnambulism; and their somnambulists are persuaded 
they are inspired. This may lead into errors, and disturb the 
imagination not only of the patients, but also of those who con- 
sult them. Let any one recall the singular ideas entertained by 
those who witnessed the somnambulists of Suede, and he will see 
that nothing can be more contrary to reason. Let us not, then, 
consider somnambulism as a supernatural state, in which they 
have celestial visions and inspirations ; but let us see in it the 
extension of our faculties, and perhaps the developement of an 
interior sense, which is active when the external senses are 
slumbering. Let us employ magnetism as a means of aiding na- 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 41 

ture, of reanimating strength, of establishing the equilibrium, of 
facilitating the circulation ; and let us not imagine that man can 
give, to himself or to others, the power of working miracles. If 
no other advantages were derived from the processes than that 
of curbing the imagination, it would still be necessary to make 
use of them. 



42 



CHAPTER III. 

OF THE EFFECTS, AND THEIR INDICATIONS, 

Of the Effects by which the Action of Magnetism is manifested, and 
of the Modifications which the Observation of these Effects indi- 
cates in the Processes, 

There are some patients upon whom magnetism does 
not act, owing either to peculiarity of constitution, to the 
kind of disease, or to a want of analogy with the magnet- 
izer; but this is very rare. It is less rare that the commu- 
nication cannot be established until after several sittings - r 
whence one cannot presume that magnetism does not act, 
till after a trial of five days. 

In order to found this presumption, even after this lapse 
of time, it is not enough that the patient has felt nothing 
when you have attempted to magnetize him. It is to be 
considered whether he has experienced no change in his 
condition ; whether he does not find himself better, or 
whether his disease is not rendered worse 5 by pursuing the 
ordinary course. It frequently happens that magnetism 
gradually reestablishes the harmony of the system without 
producing any sensation, and its influence is perceived 
only in the restoration of health. In that case, you ought 
to continue zealously to follow the processes I have pointed 
out, without troubling yourself about the manner in which 
the magnetism acts, and without seeking for any apparent 
effect. By making efforts of the attention and of the will, 
and trying processes which are thought more active, you 
would fatigue yourself uselessly, and perhaps disturb the 
gradual and peaceful course of nature. 

The happiest thing that can happen to him who for the 
first time attempts to magnetize, is, to encounter a subject 
who is not insensible to the action of magnetism, and who, 
nevertheless, feels only slight and gradual effects from it. 
If the first patient whose case is undertaken is absolutely 



CHAP. IN.] EFFECTS, AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 43 

insensible to the action, one is apt to imagine he has not 
conducted the process aright, or else he doubts his own 
power ; and in proportion as one doubts it, it really be- 
comes enfeebled. If one were at first to see wonderful 
effects produced, he would be apt to yield to curiosity and 
enthusiasm ; and the attention would be drawn from the 
essential object, which is a cure. To magnetize well, it 
is necessary to be very attentive, to be surprised at nothing, 
and to observe the effects produced, only the better to 
direct the action of magnetism. 

The instruction which I here give has for its principal 
object to prevent false ideas and exaggerated opinions, to 
which persons are liable to be exposed, for want of experi- 
ence. They who adopt my principles will not lose confi- 
dence in their powers because they have not at first suc- 
ceeded; they will not be precipitated into exaggeration 
because they have seen surprising things. They will know 
how to modify both the influence of their will, and the 
processes which they first employed. 

There are patients in whom the influence of magnetism 
is displayed in two or three minutes; others, who do not 
feel it for a long time. There are some in whom the effects 
are constantly increasing; others, who experience at the 
first time all that they will experience in the course of a 
long treatment. We sometimes meet with persons who 
obtain from it, the first day, results the most remarkable 
and salutary, but who finally become accustomed to it, and 
receive not the least advantage nor the least impression. 

The effects by which magnetism manifests its action 
are greatly varied : sometimes only one effect takes place ; 
sometimes several show themselves together, or succes- 
sively, in the same patient. When these effects have been 
once produced, it is very common to have them promptly 
renewed at each sitting. They change sometimes, in pro- 
portion to the change wrought in the malady. 

I will now describe the effects which are most com- 
monly exhibited. 

The magnetized person perceives a heat escaping from 
the ends of your fingers, when you pass them at a little 
distance before his face, although your hands appear cold 
to him, if you touch him. He afterwards feels the heat 
through his clothes, in some parts, or in all parts of his 



44 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

body before which your hands pass. He often compares 
it to water, moderately warm, flowing over him, and the 
sensation precedes your hand. His legs become numb, 
especially if you do not carry your hands as low as his 
feet; and this numbness ceases when, towards the close, 
you make passes along the legs to the toes, or below them. 
Sometimes, instead of communicating heat, you communi- 
cate cold ; sometimes, also, you produce heat upon one part 
of the body, and cold upon another. There is often in- 
duced a general warmth, and a perspiration more or less 
considerable. Pain is felt in the parts where the disease is 
seated. These pains change place, and descend. 

Magnetism causes the eyes to be closed. They are shut 
in such a manner that the patient cannot open them ; he 
feels a calm, a sensation of tranquil enjoyment ; he grows 
drowsy ; he sleeps : he wakes when spoken to, or else he 
wakes of himself at the end of a certain time, and finds 
himself refreshed. Sometimes he enters into somnambu- 
lism, in which state he hears the magnetizer, and answers 
him without awaking. 

As the state of somnambulism ought entirely to change 
the manner of magnetizing, and as it does not take place 
except in a small number of cases, we shall speak of it in 
a chapter by itself. Now, we are merely describing what 
occurs when there is no somnambulism, and pointing out 
the conduct to be observed in various circumstances. 

I said, in the preceding chapter, that one of the most 
ordinary effects of magnetism is, to dislodge the pain, and 
make it pass down in the direction of the current given to 
the fluid. If, when this is dislodged, it does not at first 
reach the extremities, you will succeed in forcing it thither 
in the subsequent sittings. But there are cases when this 
result requires uninterrupted action. 

For example, if the gout were seated in the head, and if, 
in descending, it is arrested at the breast or the stomach, it 
is essential to continue the action until it is conducted to 
the feet. 

The displacement of the malady is always a proof of the 
efficacy of magnetism ; but this displacement sometimes 
produces very sharp pains: instead of being troubled about 
these, it is necessary to magnetize during the succeeding 
days, until they are entirely dissipated. I once saw a lady, 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 45 

who had a catarrh with a severe cough. At the first sitting, 
the catarrh was cured ; but there remained in her limbs 
violent pains, which lasted three days, because she did not 
again have recourse to magnetism. 

The action of magnetism is sometimes accompanied with 
nervous movements, and very often a disposition to yawn ; 
sometimes the patient experiences pains at the stomach, 
and nausea, which is even followed by vomiting ; at other 
times, he experiences colic pains. 

These crises ought to give the magnetizer no disquiet. 
He ought to know how to calm those which are nervous, 
and to aid the tendencies of nature. 

It sometimes happens that the patient desires to have 
the sitting prolonged, sometimes to have it suspended, be- 
cause he feels a species of irritation. In these cases, it is 
well to follow his inclination as far as possible. 

I here repeat, that what I have just described are insu- 
lated effects, exhibited in various circumstances, with vari- 
ous individuals, at different times ; and are rarely united 
in the same case. 

Now let us see what modifications the observation of 
these effects ought to suggest in the processes. 

If the patient feels the sensation of heat or coolness 
from your fingers, content yourself with magnetizing with 
long passes. If the action of magnetism excites pain in 
any organ, concentrate the action upon that organ, in 
order to draw it away afterwards. 

If there be manifested any heat or heaviness at the head, 
attract it to the knees. 

If magnetism produces a sense of suffocation, or an 
irritation of the lungs, make passes, beginning below the 
breast, and continuing to the knees. 

If colics take place, and if they indicate, as they often 
do with women, that the circulation ought to be acceler- 
ated, avoid letting the hands stop at the breast, or even at 
the stomach ; carry the action to the sides, and below them; 
make passes along the thighs, and let the hands remain 
some time upon the knees. 

If the patient, have pains at the back, make passes along 
the vertebral column. 

If you see any nervous movements, calm them by your 
will, first taking the thumbs or the wrists, and afterwards 



46 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

making passes at the distance of several inches, or even of 
several feet, with the open hand. 

If magnetism seems to act too powerfully, moderate the 
action, and render it more soothing, by making the passes 
at a distance. 

If the patient sleep, let him sleep tranquilly while you 
continue to magnetize him. When you wish to rest your- 
self, take the thumbs of the patient, or place your hands 
upon his knees. 

If the sitting has been long, and you are obliged to quit, 
rouse the patient gently, by telling him to awake, and by 
making passes transversely across the eyes. 

If the eyes are closed fast, not attended with sleep, open 
them by transverse passes, but not till the termination of 
the sitting. 

If, after being roused, the patient feels anew the desire 
of sleeping, you will leave him to sleep alone, taking pre- 
cautions that no one shall trouble him. 

Here I ought to observe that the magnetic sleep is of 
itself essentially restorative. During this sleep, nature, un- 
assisted, works a cure ; and it is often sufficient to reestab- 
lish the equilibrium, and cure nervous complaints. 

When you have ended the sitting, you will agree with 
the patient upon the hour when the next one shall take 
place, and you will endeavor to be exact. It is advanta- 
geous to magnetize every day at the same hour, and, above 
all, not to change the hour agreed upon for many days in 
succession. 

Should the patient whose treatment you have underta- 
ken, appear to have any contagious disease, you will take 
care to be always active while near him, so as always to 
impart, and not to receive ; that is to say, to sustain your 
attention, and employ your will, that you may constantly 
throw off the fluid from you. You will also avoid, as much 
as possible, immediate contact. After each sitting, if you 
have the opportunity, you will cause yourself to be magnet- 
ized for some minutes with the long pass, to free yourself 
from the bad fluid with which you may be charged. If 
you cannot do this, you should pass your own hands along 
your arms, to withdraw it and shake it off. If you expe- 
rience fatigue, the open air, and especially the sun, will in 
a few minutes restore your energies. 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 47 

You should not magnetize when you have eaten heartily, 
and during digestion ; but it is often useful to take some- 
thing before the sitting to increase your strength. He who 
undertakes a treatment, ought in general to live temperate- 
ly, avoiding all excesses, and to guard as much as possible 
against all things which tend to interrupt or disturb the 
exercise of his physical and moral powers. 

I have laid it down as a principle, that when magnetism 
produces crises, it is dangerous to interrupt them. I will 
now explain what is meant by crises. 

Physicians give the name of crisis to every sudden 
change which, supervening in a disease, modifies its prog- 
ress or character, and enables us to foresee the result 
of it. 

These - crises appear to be the effort of Nature to free 
herself of the morbific principle. They are salutary when 
they operate completely ; they are injurious when the pa- 
tient has not strength to sustain them. They are mani- 
fested by symptoms ; such as a removal of the seat of the 
malady, a remarkable change in the pulse, evacuations, ex- 
cretions, eruptions, the gathering of humors, pains in cer- 
tain parts, nervous motions, &,c. In acute diseases, these 
crises generally operate on determinate days, which are 
called the critical days. 

Mesmer says there are no cures without crises. If, 
by this, he meant that the patient does not recover his 
health except by a change of state, it is so clear as to re- 
quire no notice. If he meant that the cure is wrought by 
sudden change manifested by evident symptoms, it is not 
always true ; for many diseases are cured by slow and 
gradual amelioration, without any one's being able to mark 
the moment when they assumed a favorable character. A 
fever diminishes day by day, and entirely ceases ; and a 
hundred other diseases are soothed and disappear when no 
one can determine the cause of the cessation, any more than 
that of the attack. But it is true that, in most acute dis- 
eases, the cure takes place by an evident change, which 
occurs all at once, in the state of the patient. 

Magnetizers have given the name of crises to the re- 
markable changes which the action of magnetism produces 
upon those who are subjected to it, or to that state which 
is different from the natural one, into which they are 



48 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

thrown by its influence ; and as, of all the changes of state 
which are produced by magnetism, somnambulism is the 
most singular and most characterized, they have generally 
designated it as a crisis, and they have called somnambu- 
lists crisiacs. 

The expression, thus limited, loses much of the signifi- 
cation usually given to it by physicians ; but it suffices to 
be informed of it, that it may not be mistaken. 

I thought this explanation necessary, in order to let the 
reader understand the principle I have laid down. We 
come to the application. 

The magnetic action has put your patient into a state 
different from the ordinary state, which displays itself by 
divers symptoms, such as sharp pains in a part of the body, 
the sense of suffocation, nervous movement, spasms, a con- 
siderable perspiration, the impossibility of opening the eyes, 
drowsiness, sleep, somnambulism. You ought to allow the 
crisis time to develope itself; to calm the spasm by degrees ; 
to concentrate the action upon the seat of the pain ; then to 
draw it off, taking care that nothing check the perspiration ; 
to dissipate by little and little the drowsiness or the sleep, 
if it be too much prolonged. But you ought never to wake 
your patient suddenly, nor permit any one to trouble him ; 
nor ought you to quit him until the singular state into 
which you have thrown him has entirely ceased. 

The term magnetic state has been given to every state 
different from the natural one, and resulting from the mag- 
netic influence. This word is more general than the word 
crisis, and is not equivocal. You ought to avoid leaving 
the patient so long as he is in this state, during which a 
crisis really occurs. It is essential not to disturb the pro- 
cess of nature. 

When a patient is put into a profound sleep, if he is 
touched by any one who rouses him roughly, he feels much 
evil from it. I have seen this thing produce convulsions, 
or violent pains, render the return of somnambulism impos- 
sible, and even change, to such a degree, the condition of 
the patient, that he could not afterwards endure the action 
of magnetism ; and it was necessary to leave his restoration 
to time and regimen. 

Persons who have been for the first time put into som- 
nambulism, have been known to lose, all at once, the 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 49 

faculty of entering into it again, by being rudely roused 
from it. 

General Rule. — Whenever any crisis is manifested, 
the magnetizer ought to develope it, to second the work of 
nature, and not to quit the patient until the crisis is at an 
end, and until he is brought back to his natural state. 

It is important to have the magnetizer free from anxiety, 
on account of the pains which he may excite in the abdo- 
men, and which are often renewed during several sittings : 
these critical pains will disappear, of themselves, when na- 
ture has reestablished harmony, and triumphed over the 
obstacle which is the cause of them. 

I ought here to speak of an effect, happily very rare, but 
of which it is proper to forewarn those who are commen- 
cing the practice, so that, if it takes place, they may not be 
alarmed, and commit any act of imprudence. 

It often happens that the first impression of magnetism 
produces a crisis, accompanied with convulsive motions, 
stiffness of the limbs, and fits of laughing or of crying. 

In this case, it is essential that the magnetizer be not 
alarmed. He ought first to take the thumbs of the patient, 
and tell him to be calm ; then he should make passes along 
the legs and feet, and withdraw himself in order to magnet- 
ize him at a distance by the long pass. If he keeps him- 
self collected, suffers no one to approach, takes merely the 
necessary precautions, and trusts in his own powers, and 
the action of his will, the crisis will terminate, and the per- 
son magnetized will not be fatigued, and perhaps retain 
but a faint recollection of what has passed. 

If he wishes to continue to magnetize him, which will 
be very proper, he must, at the next sitting, as soon as he 
has put himself in communication by holding the thumbs, 
magnetize him by the long pass, with the intention of 
soothing, and not augment the action too fast, taking care 
not to produce any violent shock. Above all, it is impor- 
tant for the magnetizer to have a mind free from all inqui- 
etude, to act as if the patient were as free from it as him- 
self, and to banish all witnesses who might trouble him. 

The effect of which I am now speaking is so rare, ex- 
cept in nervous and convulsive diseases, that I have not 
produced it myself but three or four times, in the course 
of a practice of thirty -five years. I know very well that it 
5 



50 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

has taken place many times, and been attended with bad 
consequences ; but it was in the hands of persons who 
magnetized to make experiments, to exhibit phenomena, 
and not with calmness, and the pure intention of doing 
good. 

I should hardly have dreamed of noticing this effect, if I 
had not recently seen an example of it, which I am going 
to give an account of, the better to make myself under- 
stood, although this work is not intended to report facts in 
support of what I advance. 

I was desired, several days ago, to instruct a lady who 
wished to magnetize her daughter, while laboring under a 
slight but long-seated disease, the cause of which was un- 
known. I caused the mother to sit by my side, and, to 
show her the processes, I attempted to magnetize her 
daughter, who experienced not the slightest effect. 

The mother having told me that she herself had been 
once magnetized, and felt the necessity of closing her ^eyes, 
I wished to see if I could act upon her. 

After trying the long pass four or five minutes, and 
placing my hand upon her stomach, she cried out, " O, 
what an agreeable sensation ! " One minute after, she was 
seized with convulsive movements; her limbs were stiffened ; 
her neck became swollen ; and she threw her head back, 
uttering shrieks. I took her thumbs, and repeated to her, 
several times, with a tone of authority, " Be calm ! " I made 
passes along the legs. I then withdrew a little, to magnet- 
ize by the long pass. Finally, keeping at a distance, I 
attempted to make transverse passes, in order to draw off 
and chase away the fluid. Her appearance then changed, 
but a laughing fit succeeded, which lasted several minutes. 
She gradually became calm. She told me she felt very 
well, and that she did not believe she had suffered. 

Now, if I had called in any one to hold her, or if I had 
been frightened, it is probable that the lady thus magnet- 
ized would have suffered for several days. 

If it is rare to produce convulsive movements by the 
method generally employed, after the instructions given by 
M. de Puysegur, it is not rare to meet with persons upon 
whom magnetism produces a nervous irritation, which 
leaves them, after the sittings, in an uneasy state of feeling. 
When you meet with subjects who are thus susceptible, it 



VHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 51 

is proper to make use of the most soothing action, and to 
act from a distance. If, after three or four sittings, the 
same effect takes place, you may presume that magnetism 
is not good for the patient, or that the fluid of the mag- 
netizer does not agree with him, and you ought not to 
persist in it. One might merely try, two or three times, 
other magnetizers. 

Many things remain to be said about the indications 
which may direct one in the choice of processes. These 
indications are of two kinds ; the first are furnished by the 
state of the patient, and will naturally find their place when 
I speak of the application of magnetism to various diseases; 
the others belong to the sensations which a practised and 
attentive magnetizer frequently experiences. I shall not 
discourse of these last, until I have mentioned the details 
rehtive to the employment of magnetism, to the crises it 
produces, and to the precautions that ought to be taken to 
obtain salutary results. But before ending this chapter, I 
ought to say a word upon the advantages one might obtain 
from a very feeble magnetic action, exerted by persons who 
have no idea of it, and by processes much more simple 
than the ones I have described. 

We often see, in the most laborious class of people, pa- 
tients to whom we presume that magnetism would do the 
greatest good, and whose treatment it is impossible for us 
to undertake. I will now explain how, and to what extent, 
we can make their relations and friends supply our place 
for their service. 

Although I have thrown all the light I could into the 
explanation of the processes, it would be useless to cause 
it to be read by peasants and laborers, who are never oc- 
cupied in any thing but their work. They would not un- 
derstand it, or at least they would not know how to apply 
it. But one might give them verbal instructions which 
they will perfectly comprehend, and which will suffice to 
put them in the way of doing more or less good to the pa- 
tient who inspires them with a real interest. Here is the 
way to effect it. 

Say to the person who appears to you to have the great- 
est affection for the patient, and who is with him the most, 
that he can soothe him by making slight frictions; that 
these frictions make the blood circulate; that the heat 



52 OP THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

which escapes from the hand is salutary; that, by holding 
the hand upon the suffering part, the pain is lessened ; and 
that, by passing the hand over the body, he may draw off 
the disease. Tell him that one person may communicate 
health to another who is sick, as we communicate disease 
to a well man, when we ourselves are diseased. You can 
even assure him that the heat produced by breathing 
through a linen cloth is very good to relieve an obstruc- 
tion ; and that blowing from the mouth at a distance 
assists in soothing a local inflammation. You may add, 
that the processes you are teaching produce no effect, 
when the person who employs them is thinking of any 
thing else. If the persons to whom you address yourself 
are pious, you have a sure means of sustaining their at- 
tention, of directing their will, and of exciting their con- 
fidence. It is, to recommend to them to pray to God for 
the restoration of the patient, while they are engaged in 
acting upon him. When they are persuaded that you give 
such advice through goodness, and that you do not doubt 
its efficacy, you will have little trouble in making them 
follow it. Then show them how they ought to put it in 
practice, by magnetizing for a quarter of an hour, and 
gaining the assistance of the person you are instructing. 
While you are making this essay, guard well against seek- 
ing to produce any phenomenon. Try only to soothe 
pains, to bring heat to the extremities, and ease to the 
patient. Finally, warn them that, if the patient should 
fall asleep during the operation of passing the hands over 
him, they must not awaken him. It is desirable that no 
phenomenon may be manifested so remarkable as to aston- 
ish the one who is magnetizing him, but merely such 
effects as augment his confidence. Among the persons 
whom you have thus instructed, you will meet with some 
who, after a few days, will magnetize very well, without 
any suspicion of what they are about. 

Ignorant people being often disposed to have faith in the 
efficaciousness of certain practices, one might point out to 
them, as a curative means, a particular sign, or a form of 
prayer, objects which have received the benediction of a 
priest, or a sort of amulet. But this is what no one ought 
to do, because it is practising deception upon them, and 
the paramount obligation is, to say nothing which we do 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 53 

not believe to be true ; besides, the abuse of means, in- 
nocent in themselves, may keep up ignorance and favor 
superstition. 

I have frequently obtained the most happy results from 
the sort of instruction which I have just proposed. The 
action of magnetism, thus directed, is doubtless more feeble 
than it would be in the hands of one who is acquainted 
with the power of it ; it does not produce surprising 
effects, but it is salutary, and accompanied with no danger. 
I have often seen a man soothing the pains of a wife, and 
a wife soothing those of her husband, by conforming with 
simplicity and confidence to the directions I had given 
them. Two examples may be cited. 

1. Oudin, an old soldier, whose case has been de- 
scribed by M. Ollivier, in his work " On the Spine and its 
Diseases," was paralyzed from the hips to the feet. He 
could walk only by the aid of crutches, and his legs trem- 
bled continually. He had most violent pains in the loins. 
He had been treated unsuccessfully at the Hotel Dieu, 
afterwards in the fourth dispensary of the Philanthropic 
Society, when I directed his wife, although she was very 
feeble, to make slight frictions, almost without touching, 
from his hips to his feet. From the first day, the feet, 
which were very cold and white, grew warm and red, as 
when sinapisms are applied, and, a few days after, the legs 
ceased to tremble. The pains in the reins were always 
very sharp, when the physicians apprized me that the dis- 
ease originated in the spinal marrow. I then told the 
woman to apply frictions along the reins, drawing towards 
the legs; and very soon the pains were entirely removed. 
Oudin is not cured of his paralysis, but he suffers no more ; 
he can even make use of his legs, and is infinitely better. 
2. The wife of the man who takes care of my apart- 
ment, was confined to her bed by violent pains, attended 
with fever. I went to see her, and, perceiving she was 
very sensitive to the action of magnetism, I pointed out to 
her husband how he ought to proceed in order to relieve 
her. The benefit which he at first produced, imparted 
confidence to him, and in fifteen days his wife was cured. 
She then came to thank me. I asked her if she still suf- 
fered pain. She replied, " Only in the shoulder. When 
it was very severe, her husband caused it to pass away ; 
5* 



54 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. Ill, 

but it returned, and he had not time every day to bestow 
care upon her." I then placed my hand upon her shoul- 
der, and was much surprised to see her close her eyes, 
and, a few minutes after, fall into the state of somnam- 
bulism. I spoke to her; and this is a summary of our 
conversation. 

"Are you asleep?" "Yes, sir." "Why do you 
sleep?" "I do not know." "Do you see what the 
matter is with you? " (After a little reflection,) " Nothing 
is the matter with me but the pain in my shoulder." 
" What must be done to relieve you?" " You are now 
doing what will cure me." "In how long a time?" 
" Three days." " If, when you are awakened, I tell you 
to come three or four days successively, will you do it ? " 
" Yes, sir." 

I then caused this woman to come four days. The first 
and the second day, somnambulism was renewed ; the 
third day she suffered no more, and it was difficult to 
produce an imperfect sleep. The fourth day she expe- 
rienced absolutely nothing; and since that time she has 
not been ill. 

It is very remarkable that the husband, who had no idea 
of somnambulism, did not cause it to occur, although his 
wife was much disposed to it. I did not produce it myself 
the day I went to see her ; because I did not intend it, and 
because I avoided acting upon her head. 

The kind of instruction which I have given is particu- 
larly appropriate to mothers who have young children. 
What they are taught seems to them analogous to what 
they are naturally prompted to do, in order to soothe them 
when they suffer ; and as they identify themselves with the 
object of their solicitude, and as nothing can withdraw 
them from the will to do good, it is enough to excite their 
confidence, and they will unite all the qualities requisite to 
the efficacy of magnetism. 



NOTE. 



Among the effects of the magnetic treatment, there is one of 
which it is proper to be premonished, and which I omitted to 
mention, I will now supply that omission. 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 55 

When a patient has an issue, it frequently happens that it 
closes after several sittings. This ought to give the operator no 
anxiety. It is a proof that the humors have taken another 
course. I directed the treatment of a lady who had been very 
ill for many years. Two issues, which she had been advised to 
keep open, closed in a few days. She was at first alarmed at it ; 
but very soon she found herself better, and in six weeks she was 
restored to health. 



56 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF THE ACCESSORY MEANS TO INCREASE THE 

MAGNETIC ACTION, AND OF THOSE BY WHICH 

THE DIRECT ACTION IS SUPPLIED. 

The magnetizer can communicate his fluid to many 
objects, and these objects become either the conductors of 
his action, or proper instruments of its transmission, and 
produce magnetic effects upon persons with whom he is in 
communication. He can also, by means of some one of 
these auxiliaries, and without fatiguing himself, conduct 
the treatment of many patients at the same time, when they 
are not somnambulists. 

These auxiliaries are water, woollen and cotton cloth, 
plates of glass, &c, which have been magnetized, mag- 
netized trees, and magnetic troughs or reservoirs. The 
chain, or the union of many persons holding each other by 
the hands, and in harmony, under the direction of one 
magnetizer, is also among the auxiliary means. 

Magnetized water is one of the most powerful and salu- 
tary agents that can be employed. The patients are made 
to drink of it, when the communication is established, 
either at or between their meals. It carries the magnetic 
fluid directly into the stomach, and thence into all the 
organs. It facilitates the crises to which nature is dis- 
posed, and, therefore, sometimes excites the perspiration, 
sometimes the evacuations, and sometimes the circulation 
of the blood. It strengthens the stomach, appeases pains, 
and often supplies the place of several medicaments. 

To magnetize water, take the vessel which contains it, 
and pass the two hands alternately from the top to the 
bottom of the vessel. Introduce the fluid at the opening 
of the vessel, by presenting the fingers close to it, several 
times in succession. Sometimes you may breathe upon 



CHAP. IV.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 57 

the water, or stir it round with the thumb. You may 
magnetize a glass of water, by holding it by the bottom in 
one hand, and, with the other, throwing the fluid upon 
the glass. 

There is one process which I employ in preference, in 
order to magnetize a bottle of water, when I am certain it 
is not disagreeable to the person whom I magnetize. It 
consists in placing the bottle upon my knee, and applying 
my mouth to the nose. I thus throw my breath into the 
bottle, and, at the same time, I make passes with both 
hands upon all the surface. I believe this process charges 
strongly ; but it is not necessary. It is sufficient to mag- 
netize it by the hands. 

One may magnetize a pitcher of water in two or three 
minutes ; a glass of water in one minute. It is unneces- 
sary to repeat here that the processes pointed out for mag- 
netizing water, like every thing else, would be absolutely 
useless, if they were not employed with attention, and with 
a determinate will. 

I have seen magnetized water produce effects so mar- 
vellous, that I was afraid of having deceived myself, and 
could not be wholly convinced until I had made a thou- 
sand experiments. Magnetizers, in general, have not made 
sufficient use of it. They would have spared themselves 
much fatigue, they could have dispensed with many medi- 
cines, they would have hastened the cure, if they had 
accorded to this means all the confidence it merits. 

In internal diseases, especially, magnetized water acts in 
an astonishing manner. It carries the magnetism directly 
to the organs affected. You give, for instance, a glass of 
magnetized water to one who has a pain in the side; some 
minutes after he has drunk it, it seems to him as if that 
water had descended to the seat of the disease. For eight 
days in succession, I have purged a patient with magnet- 
ized water. The effect was the same as if she had taken 
the ordinary medicine, with this difference, — the operation 
was not attended with colic. Doctor Roullier says that 
one of his patients was thus purged five or six times a day 
for more than a month, and that the evacuations, the con- 
sequences of which, under ordinary medicine, would have 
justly excited alarm, procured ease and a return of health. 
I knew a patient who was cured in the same manner. I 



58 TO AUGMENT THE ACTION, AND* [CHAP. IV. 

have seen magnetized water entirely overcome inactivity 
of the intestines which had lasted many years. 

Magnetized water is a very great help in convalescence. 
It gives strength; it restores the tone of the stomach; it 
renders digestion easy ; it throws off from the system, by 
perspiration or otherwise, every thing which resists the 
entire reestablishment of health. 

A man of merit, whom I have now the satisfaction of 
numbering among my friends, was affected with colic pains 
in the stomach and bowels, for which he had, during seven 
years, in vain employed all the remedies of medicine. 
They came on by crises which lasted two or three days, 
and returned every week. His residence was sixty leagues 
off, and he came to Paris to seek some further advice. 
He made application to me. He inspired me with much 
interest, and I undertook his treatment. After the third 
sitting, I made him drink a glass of magnetized water. It 
produced in his stomach a very great heat. He told me that 
it seemed to him as if he had drunk a glass of spirits of 
wine. Two minutes afterwards, this heat was diffused through 
the whole system, and was followed by a gentle perspi- 
ration. From that moment I caused him to make use of 
the magnetized water; and in fifteen days I had the pleas- 
ure of delivering him from all his sufferings. He then 
wished to return home. " I am very well," said he, " but 
I am going to make a decisive experiment. I never could 
travel in a carriage without a great deal of pain." I gave 
him two bottles of magnetized water, and advised him to 
drink of them by the way. He had hardly been a half 
hour in the carriage, before he began to feel ill ; he then 
drank a glass of the water, and, during more than four hours, 
he felt no further inconvenience. By thus drinking, every 
four hours, his glass of water, he reached home without the 
least fatigue. Yet he was not entirely cured; and there 
remains in him the principle of disease, which it is perhaps 
impossible to destroy. But his wife magnetizes him when 
it appears requisite; and in the evening, when he finds 
himself indisposed, she gives him a glass of magnetized 
water, which soothes him, and makes him pass the night 
well. When he is obliged to travel, the magnetized water 
always renders him the same service : and this experiment 
has been repeatedly tried for five years. 



CHAP. IV.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 59 

Magnetized water has been employed successfully as a 
lotion for wounds. In affections of the eyes, it strengthens 
them, and generally produces a sensation like that of water 
in which have been mixed a few drops of spirits of wine. 
Baths of magnetized water have often produced excellent 
effects. 

I have several times made the experiment of putting a 
bottle of magnetized water at the feet of a patient, who, 
while in bed, was constantly cold at the feet; and, in 
certain cases, I have seen it excite a great deal of heat, 
and bring on a perspiration. The bottle acts here only as 
every other magnetized object will. Nevertheless, the result 
of this experiment was remarkable, because a bottle of 
water ought to produce cold, and not heat, as it often 
happens when the patient is not disposed to this sort 
of crisis. 

Patients often perceive a peculiar taste in the magnet- 
ized water, and generally they distinguish it very well from 
that which is not magnetized. 

I thought I could see that the taste which the patient 
found in it indicated the species of remedies of which he 
had need. For example, if he found it bitter, and yet 
drank it with pleasure, it gave grounds of presumption 
that bitter things were salutary to him. I have not made 
this observation frequently enough to state it as a fact. I 
mention it, because, in many cases, any one can easily 
verify it. 

When the magnetizer cannot give his patient more than 
two or three sittings a week, magnetized water supplies the 
direct action. The use of it must be continued some time 
after the treatment has ceased. 

I am certain that with epileptics, or persons attacked 
with a nervous disease which, to those who are not 
physicians, appears to be epilepsy, magnetized water, con- 
tinued for many months after some sittings of direct mag- 
netism, has caused the fits to disappear entirely. 

I believe that the water given to the patient to drink 
ought always to be magnetized by the same person who 
has undertaken the treatment. This is a consequence of 
the principle I have laid down, that a patient ought not to 
be magnetized by many persons who have not a perfect 
congeniality with the first magnetizer, and that, the fluids 



60 TO AUGMENT THE ACTION, AND [CHAP. IV.. 

of various individuals not having the same quality, and 
not acting in the same manner, we ought not to unite their 
action. 

Some very remarkable phenomena confirm this opinion. 
Somnambulists distinguish very well when an object has 
been magnetized by several persons; and this mixture of 
divers fluids is sometimes insupportable to them. 

We do not yet know how long the magnetized water 
preserves its virtue; but it certainly retains it for many days, 
and numerous facts seem to prove it not to have been lost 
after several weeks. Nevertheless, when one lives near 
the patient, it is proper to magnetize every day the water 
or other drinks of which he makes use. 

Some food, also, may be magnetized in the same manner,, 
and especially liquid food, such as milk and broth. Many 
persons, with whom milk does not agree, like it very well 
when it has been magnetized. 

It appears that magnetized water exercises no influence 
upon persons who have never been magnetized.* It gen- 
erally produces marked effects only after two or three 
sittings. In order to have the fluid of the magnetizer act 
upon the patient, the communication must be established; 
and it is never established except by direct and immediate 
manipulation. 

I have extended my observations upon magnetized water 
very much, but those who make use of it with confidence 
will discover that I have not said enough upon the advan- 
tages to be derived from it. Yet I ought to add that there 
are some persons on whom it appears to exert no action. 
The number of these, however, is very small. 

Magnetized reservoirs, or troughs, are vessels filled with 
magnetized materials, and provided with conductors to 
direct the fluid which they contain. The most common 
mode of constructing them is the following : — 

Take a wooden vessel, two feet high, larger or smaller, 

* Some observations, recently communicated to me, have con- 
vinced me that my conjecture was false, and that magnetized water 
does sometimes act in a very efficacious manner upon persons who 
have never been magnetized. I can cite, among other instances, 
that of a woman who had been troubled for a long time with dys- 
pepsy, who was promptly cured by this means. 

Objects magnetized can in the same degree exert a very salutary 
action, although no communication has been previously established. 



CHAP. IV.J TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 61 

according to the number of persons to be placed round it, 
having the bottom elevated an inch from the floor by the 
projection of the sides. Place an iron rod in the centre, to 
serve as the principal conductor, having a diameter of half 
an inch, or of one inch, descending to within two inches of 
the bottom, and rising above the trough two or three feet. 
The lower end of this iron rod should be firmly fixed in a 
glass foot, or in a jug, so that it may retain its vertical po- 
sition. Put into the vessel bottles of magnetized water, or 
other magnetized substances ; cork them, and run through 
each cork a piece of iron wire, projecting two or three 
inches; and arrange them in such a manner that the neck 
may be near the central conductor, and communicate with 
it by the iron wire which pierces the cork. Then place a 
second range of bottles above the first. If the baquet, or 
trough, is large, you can put two ranges of bottles in the 
same order ; the neck of one being placed in the bottom 
of the other. This being done, you will fill the vessel with 
water, white sand well washed, pounded glass, and iron 
filings, all well magnetized. Place upon it a cover in two 
pieces, fitted closely together, having an opening in the 
middle for the central conductor. At a short distance from 
the circumference, at points corresponding to the spaces 
between the bottles, you will pierce several holes, for the 
purpose of thrusting into the reservoir iron conductors, 
bent and movable, which are raised and lowered at pleas- 
ure, so that one may direct them against any part of the 
body, and pass the hands above them, to draw off the fluid. 
And, lastly, you will attach to the central conductor cords 
of cotton or wool, which the patients may twine around 
their bodies. 

Although every thing that is placed in the reservoir has 
been magnetized beforehand, the reservoir is to be regular- 
ly magnetized, when its construction has been completed, 
before the cover is placed upon it. When this operation 
is first performed, it takes a considerable time — nearly an 
hour. It is even proper to repeat it three or four days in 
succession. But when once the reservoir has been well 
charged, it is readily charged again, by the magnetizer's 
holding the central conductor in his hands several minutes. 
I do not know whether reservoirs filled with water are more 
easily charged with the magnetic fluid, than those which 
6 



62 TO AUGMENT THE ACTION, AND [CHAP. IT. 

contain between the bottles only pounded glass, iron filings,. 
or simply sand ; but it is certain that these last are more 
proper and convenient, and for this reason I give them the 
preference. It is difficult to prevent the water's escaping 
from the haquet, and it might become foul in the course of 
time. The same magnetizer ought always to charge the 
reservoir. 

I will say no more about the large magnetic reservoirs, 
because we do not have recourse to them except when we 
wish to magnetize a great number; in which case we ought 
to have a great deal of leisure, and devote ourselves to mag- 
netism. He who does this ought to procure the principal 
works published on this subject, and to study them with 
care. 

But a large bottle filled with magnetized water, furnished 
with an iron wire inserted into the cork and forming a 
curvature of from three to six inches, terminated by a knob, 
is a little reservoir which keeps up the magnetic action, and 
may be very useful. The magnetizer charges this bottle 
occasionally without taking out the cork. 

Some magnetizers think that the fluid which comes 
from the reservoir brings with it an emanation of the sub- 
stances which are contained in it. Many facts seem to 
authorize this opinion : it is not yet proved, but it remains 
a subject for experiment. You might put into the reservoir 
aromatic plants, carminative or tonic, according to the end 
proposed. You might also try whether a bottle well mag- 
netized, and filled with medicinal matters, would act more 
efficaciously than one of pure water. Such experiments 
should not be neglected. 

The water contained in bottles placed upon the reser- 
voir, and put in communication, by an iron wire, with the 
central conductor, becomes magnetized of itself. 

You might place on the top of the central conductor a 
small cap of iron or of wood, in which you have put silk or 
cotton, which will become very strongly magnetized. 

We now come to discourse of magnetized objects, of the 
mode of using them, and of the effects they produce. 

Tissues wrought in silk or cotton thread, the leaf of a 
tree, plates of glass, gold, or steel,* and other magnetized 

* Metals whose oxides are dangerous must not be used for this 
purpose. 



CHAP. IV.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 63 

objects, placed upon the seat of the pain, are often sufficient 
to ease it; but they produce no effect until the magnetic 
action has been established. I have very often seen mag- 
netized socks produce a warmth of the feet which could 
not have been obtained by any other means. These socks 
preserve their virtue during four or five days. It then 
grows feeble, and is lost. 

A magnetized handkerchief, carried upon the stomach, 
sustains the action during the interval of the sittings, and 
often calms spasms and nervous movements. Sometimes 
the headache is dissipated by enveloping the head during 
the night with a magnetized bandage. 

I ought to speak here of the use which is made of plates 
of glass magnetized, both because I have often succeeded, 
by means of them, in calming, with surprising ease, local 
pirns in the viscera, and because their application is usu- 
ally accompanied with a very remarkable phenomenon. 
Dr. Roullier is, I think, the first that has mentioned this 
phenomenon ; although it had been observed by other 
magnetizers. He thus expresses himself : "In some cir- 
cumstances, I have caused my patients to wear a piece of 
magnetized glass upon the pit of the stomach. I prefer a 
lenticular shape, about an inch and a half in diameter, at- 
tached to the neck by a ribbon. This, when magnetized, 
will commonly adhere to the skin, and remain there several 
hours." When it has produced its effect, it falls, and will 
not again adhere until magnetized anew. The same thing 
takes place when we make use of a piece of steel, or the 
leaf of a tree. 

Some persons are very impressible, and fear that any 
other than their own magnetizer should act upon them. 
A magnetized object often suffices to repel all foreign in- 
fluence. I have seen many examples of it, which could 
not be attributed to the imagination.* 

It now remains to speak of the chain — a method formerly 
much used, and which is the most effectual of all for aug- 
menting the power of magnetism, and putting it in circula- 
tion, but which, though it has great advantages, has also 
great inconveniences. I am going to explain what it is, 

* To produce this effect, a gold ring is worn on the finger of the 
patient, or a medallion, set in gold or in crystal, is placed about the 
neck. 



64 TO AUGMENT THE ACTION, AND [CHAP. IV. 

how it is formed, and under what circumstances and con- 
ditions it may be useful. 

If you have near you many persons, in good health, who 
have confidence in magnetism, who feel an interest in the 
patient, and who wish to aid you in the cure, arrange them 
in a circle. Let them all take each other's hands, holding on 
by the thumbs, so that he who is on the right of the patient 
may touch him with the left hand, and he who is on the 
left may touch him with the right hand. You will form a 
part of this chain, and, when you wish to make passes with 
your hands, the two persons by the side of you will place 
their hands upon your shoulders, or upon your knees. If 
you place yourself in the centre, your two neighbors will 
approach each other so that the chain be not interrupted. 
The magnetic fluid will be soon in circulation, the patient 
will feel the effect strongly, and your power will be consid- 
erably augmented. 

But to have a chain good, it is necessary that all who 
compose it should be thoughtful only of the patient, and 
unite constantly with you in intention : without this condi- 
tion, it is more injurious than beneficial. Some persons 
in the chain often feel the effects of the magnetic action ; 
they faint, or go to sleep. But that does not counteract 
the effects so much as a single act of inattention. 

You should avoid admitting into the chain patients sus- 
ceptible of nervous irritation. It would be dangerous to 
put persons there who are tainted with contagious dis- 
eases. 

The chain might be made use of in families, when there 
are to be found from four to six persons who take a lively 
interest in the patient, and who desire that magnetism may 
be of advantage to him. 

The chain should, as far as possible, be composed of the 
same persons. If a new individual be admitted into it, 
especially after it has been once formed, he ought first to 
be placed in communication. 

The baquet and the chain have often been employed at 
the same time. This is done after arranging the patients 
round the reservoir. They are directed to form a chain. 
For the folio wing reasons, I do not approve of this method : — 

When several patients meet round the haquet, it is for 
the purpose of receiving the action of the magnetic fluid 



CHAP. IV.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 65 

there concentrated, without any direct communication 
between them ; but when a chain is formed, it is that the 
patient may receive the influence of all the persons who 
compose it ; whence it follows that all of them ought to be 
in good health. These two means should, therefore, be 
employed separately, and in different circumstances : they 
do not agree equally with all patients, and each one has its 
advantages and its inconveniences. This subject demands 
a few additional observations. 

Although the haquet has a milder and slower action than 
direct manipulation, persons attacked with severe diseases, 
which do not spring from morbid inaction, are exposed to 
crises which should be soothed apart. When these crises 
occur, they may have influence upon the other patients, and 
even be communicated by sympathy or by imitation. We 
know how violent these crises may become, when we 
remember how they were in the time of Mesmer. It is 
true, we did not then understand how to calm them, and 
the same accidents did not take place at Strasburg; yet it is 
always proper to take precautions ; and if you assemble a 
large number around the baquet, it is necessary to have 
several magnetizers, and one of them should have an 
acquaintance with medicine, I think then that, in the 
domestic practice of magnetism, it is not necessary to 
make use of the baquet for nervous affections, but solely 
for such diseases as intermittent fevers, dropsy, enlarge- 
ments of the glands, rheumatic pains, debility, sluggish 
circulation, &c. In these it would be very useful to the 
patient to go every day and charge himself with magnetism 
at the baquet, previously to being magnetized by direct 
manipulation. 

As to the chain, several conditions are requisite, which 
are often difficult to fulfil. 1st. All who compose it ought 
to be in good health. 2d. They should be such as have 
an interest in the sick person. 3d. No one of them should 
interrupt the action, either by his curiosity, or by the 
desire of exerting a particular influence. 

All these conditions having been fulfilled in some treat- 
ments which I have pursued, I have obtained from it very 
energetic and very salutary effects ; but when one of these 
conditions fails, I have known it to be more injurious 
than useful. 

6* 



66 TO AUGMENT THE ACTION, AND [CHAP. IV* 

In diseases of the lymphatic system, in those of inaction, 
&c, it is doubtless beneficial to have recourse to the chain, 
if it be possible to form a good one. In disorders of the 
nervous system, or of certain viscera, disorders whose 
treatment exhibits crises, and especially in those where 
somnambulism takes place, it is absolutely necessary that 
the patient should have near him only his magnetizer, and 
the person he has chosen from the commencement to assist 
at the sittings. 

It is essential that the most perfect harmony should reign 
in a magnetic treatment; and this cannot be obtained 
unless all things are directed by a single will, to which all 
the others are in unison. Hence it follows that, in a 
magnetic treatment, whatever may be the number of the 
patients, and of magnetizers, there ought to be but one 
chief, to whom all those who cooperate in the action shall 
be in submission during the sitting. If he who has estab- 
lished the treatment, and charged himself with its direc- 
tion, has for cooperators persons better informed or more 
powerful than himself, he must not invite them to take the 
lead ; and they must be very cautious not to exert a direct 
influence. They will regard themselves merely as the aids 
and the instruments of the leader, and must magnetize 
under his direction, following the processes which he 
points out to them. The observance of this rule is espe- 
cially important when there are somnambulists. I speak 
of this in my chapter on somnambulism. 

I ought not to finish this chapter without saying a word 
of an instrument of which the magnetizers made much 
use in former times, and of which they make little use at 
present, because of the pleasantries to which it gave occa- 
sion. It is a steel wand, in the form of a long cone, ten 
or twelve inches in length, about five lines in diameter at 
one end, and two lines at the other. It is held in such a 
way as to have the large end in the palm of the hand, and 
the straightened fingers touch it at their extremities. This 
is used to direct the fluid at a distance, to fix the action of 
the five united fingers upon any particular point. It is also 
used in magnetizing water ; which is done by plunging it 
into a vase half its length, and stirring it round in the 
water. This wand is not necessary, but it is often conve- 
nient, and sometimes very useful. I have seen a patient who 



CHAP. IV.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 67 

felt in his chest all the movements that I made while 
pointing it towards him. I have seen others who found 
the action too powerful. 

Some magnetizers make use of wands of glass in the 
shape of a spindle : they are as good as steel wands ; per- 
haps they are even preferable.* 

Some have occasionally employed iron wands artificially 
magnetized, like the compass needle; and they think that 
they act with more power ; but they certainly do not agree 
with all patients. I do not recommend them. The wand 
is designed to direct and concentrate the magnetic fluid, 
and not to modify it by a foreign influence. 

The magnetizer who makes use of the wand ought to 
have one of his own, and not lend it to any person, lest 
it should be charged with different fluids — a precaution 
more important than it is commonly thought to be. 

* The conducting power of glass wands evidently proves that there 
is no analogy between the fluid of animal magnetism and the elec- 
tric or galvanic fluids. 



68 



CHAPTER V. 



OF SOMNAMBULISM, AND OF THE USE TO BE MADE 
OF IT. 

It is a well-known fact that certain persons walk, speak, 
and act, in their sleep; and that when they are awakened, 
they have no recollection of what they have been doing 
These persons are called somnambulists ; that is, sleep- 
walkers; and the state in which they are, is called som- 
nambulism. The disposition to walk in the sleep has been 
considered as a nervous affection, which we should endeavor 
to counteract, because of the accidents which might spring 
from it. 

The apparent resemblance between spontaneous som- 
nambulism, and the crises which are often produced by 
magnetism, has induced men to call the latter magnetic 
somnambulism. A more appropriate name might have 
been found ; but as this has been received for forty years, 
it is useless to change it. 

Magnetic somnambulism, which we call, simply, som- 
nambulism, because that term cannot be equivocal in this 
work, is a mode of existence during which the person who 
is in it, appears to be asleep. If his magnetizer speaks to 
him, he answers without waking ; he can also execute 
various movements, and when he returns to the natural 
state, he retains no remembrance of what has passed. His 
eyes are closed ; he generally understands those only who 
are put in communication with him. The external organs 
of sense are all, or nearly all, asleep ; and yet he experi- 
ences sensations, but by another means. There is roused 
in him an internal sense, which is perhaps the centre of 
the others, or a sort of instinct, which enlightens him in 
respect to his own preservation. He is subject to the in- 
fluence of his magnetizer, and this influence may be either 



CHAP. V.] SOMNAMBULISM. 69 

useful or injurious, according to the disposition and the 
conduct of the magnetizer.* 

Somnambulism presents phenomena infinitely varied. A 
description of them may be found in a great number of 
works published upon this subject. This is not the place 
to describe them. My design is solely to teach the means 
of obtaining the most useful results from this crisis, with- 
out exposing one's self to the least inconvenience. 

Of all the discoveries which have excited attention, from 
the remotest antiquity, that of somnambulism certainly 
gives us the most insight into the nature and the faculties 
of man. The phenomena to which it has drawn our atten- 
tion, demonstrate the distinction of two things ; the two- 
fold existence of the internal and the external man in a 
single individual. They offer a direct proof of the spiritu- 
ality of the soul, and an answer to all the objections raised 
against its immortality. They make evident the truth 
known to ancient sages, and so well expressed by M. de 
Bonald, that man is an intelligence served by organs. This 
advantage cannot be too highly appreciated, especially in 
an age when audacious minds do not fear to employ the 
researches of physiology to shake the certainty of the inte- 
rior sentiment, which reveals to us the dignity of man, his 
supremacy in the order of creation, and his moral liberty — 
a sentiment which is the basis of social life, and which 
engages to the practice of virtue, by pointing out to us, in 
a future life, the developement of our earthly existence, and 
the recompense of sacrifices made to obey the dictates of 
conscience. On the other hand, somnambulism makes 
known to us the means of curing diseases which are cura- 
ble, and of relieving those which are not. It serves to 
rectify the errors of medicine as well as those of metaphys- 
ics. Finally, it points out the origin of a great number of 
opinions prevalent anterior to the experiments which have 
confirmed their correctness ; and it restores to the order 
of nature a multitude of facts which philosophers have 
disdained to examine, either because ignorance and credu- 
lity had altered some of their circumstances, or because, in 
the dark ages, they were made to serve as the foundation 
of superstition. 

* There are exceptions to the character here given, but they are 
extremely rare. 



70 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V. 

The discovery of somnambulism having been made, or 
rather renewed, in our time, without our being prepared 
for it, and the application which can be made of it demand- 
ing a meditative mind, great prudence, severe manners, 
religious dispositions, gravity of character, positive knowl- 
edge, and other qualities which do not accord with the 
amiable levity and excitable imagination of Frenchmen, it 
may be doubted whether its sudden propagation has not 
produced as much evil as good, and whether it would not 
have been better that this marvellous phenomenon had not 
been at first observed, and that people had confined them- 
selves merely to magnetism as Mesmer taught it, and as 
many persons before him practised it, without knowing 
whether they employed a particular agent, or a faculty 
common to all men. But it was impossible that they who 
devoted themselves to the practice of magnetism, should 
not be struck, sooner or later, with a phenomenon which 
would not fail to present itself. It was equally impossible 
that they should not have been seized with enthusiasm at 
the sight of the wonderful things which accompany it, and 
made it a secret. It was, finally, impossible that men who 
were strangers to the true principles of magnetism, should 
not seek to produce the same wonderful things, to exercise 
their power and satisfy their curiosity, and should know 
how to confine themselves within proper bounds, to avoid 
dangers and errors. Hence it has resulted that magnetism 
has often been employed, not to cure diseases, but to pro- 
cure somnambulism. And as somnambulists have faculties 
and means of knowledge which we have not, people have 
imagined they ought to know every thing, and have con- 
sulted them as oracles. If, instead of yielding to enthusi- 
asm, they had examined the phenomena by the lights of 
physiology, they would have perceived the danger of push- 
ing too far a state during which an inexplicable change 
occurs in the functions of the nervous system, in the play 
of the organs, and in the manner of perceiving and trans- 
mitting sensation ; that the more the sensibility is exalted, 
the more ought they to be on their guard against what 
might increase that exaltation ; that at the extremity of the 
course which Nature has marked out for herself, and which 
she has strength to run over, preserving the harmony of all 
the faculties and the control of reason, an immense field is 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 71 

open to the imagination, in which illusions take the place 
of truth ; that somnambulism is only a transient crisis, of 
which it is necessary to make use without wandering from 
the design for which nature has produced it ; and that 
somnambulism too much prolonged, would give us habits 
which would not be in accordance with our ordinary desti- 
nation, and of itself would become a disease. 

I will not insist upon these considerations, the develope- 
ment of which would carry me to a great extent. I pro- 
pose to teach what it is necessary to know in practice, 
without entering into any discussion. 

Somnambulism is known ; it presents itself often in the 
magnetic practice : let us see what are the means of always 
deriving from it the greatest advantage, and avoiding all 
misuse of it. 

The first advice I shall give is, that you never seek to 
produce somnambulism, but to let it come naturally, in 
order to profit by it when it takes place. 

Many magnetizers, in order to produce it, charge the 
head very much ; and, by this means, they often succeed 
in obtaining a forced slumber, a reflux of blood towards 
the brain, and partial crises, which are of no utility. This 
method is not without danger. It is much better simply to 
employ magnetism by the long pass, and not to charge the 
head more than the other parts. If nature is disposed to 
this crisis, the fluid will, of itself, be carried to the brain, 
and the tendency to somnambulism will be manifested by 
the patient's being in a state of tranquillity, by his closing 
his eyes, and by his sleeping. You may then, without any 
inconvenience, pass the extremities of your fingers five or 
six times at a short distance before his eyes, in order to 
give more intensity to his sleep. 

You may then ask him how he is, or whether he sleeps 
well. Then one of these three things will take place — he 
will wake, he will not answer, or he will answer. 

If he awakes, somnambulism has not taken place, and 
you must not think any more respecting it in the course 
of that sitting. If he continues to sleep, without answer- 
ing, there is reason to suppose he is entering into the som- 
nambulic state. If he answers without waking, and, after 
his waking, has no recollection of your speaking to him, 
the somnambulism is real. 



72 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V, 

In case the patient continues to sleep without hearing 
you, you will continue to magnetize him as I have pointed 
out; and you will wait, before you put him a second ques- 
tion, until the moment before that at which you think the 
sitting should be terminated. 

If he makes no more answer to this question than to 
the first, you will leave him to sleep tranquilly ; or, if yoi* 
judge it necessary to rouse him, you may merely make 
transversal passes at a distance, bidding him to awake, in 
a gentle voice, and not commanding him with a tone of 
authority. 

If the patient makes a sign that he understands you, yet 
without answering, you will beware of urging him to speak. 
It is a happy thing for him to be by himself, to collect 
himself, and accustom himself to his new condition, and to 
arrange his ideas. You will merely ask him to let you 
know, by a motion of the head, whether he desires to be 
awakened, or to sleep longer; and you will conform your- 
self as much as possible to his wish. 

You will continue in the same manner during the suc- 
ceeding sittings. Yet if this state of mute somnambulism 
is prolonged, you will inquire of him whether he hopes 
very soon to acquire the faculty of speaking ; whether you 
magnetize him well ; if he finds himself better for it ; and 
you may make all inquiries of him which he can answer 
by a sign and without effort. 

Have a perfect command of yourself, be patient, and be- 
ware of employing your will to influence your patient to 
speak, or to make his somnambulism more profound. 
Have but one intention, entertain but one wish, — that of 
facilitating the cure ; and leave Nature to employ, of her- 
self, the increase of power which you give him. 

It may happen that his somnambulism will not proceed 
farther ; but this is of no consequence ; it is not your object 
to render him a somnambulist, but to cure him. If som- 
nambulism were necessary, — if his constitution rendered 
him susceptible of it, — this state would spontaneously de- 
velope itself. Merely observe what peculiar precautions 
this demi-somnambulism requires; such as, not suffering 
those to approach him who are not in communication with 
him, not to oppose him, not to awaken him roughly, and 
to continue to occupy yourself about him. 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 73 

If your patient speaks, and to the question, " Do you 
sleep?" answers, "Yes," he is a somnambulist; but it 
does not follow that he is endowed with clairvoyance. 

Some persons have distinguished many degrees or shades 
of somnambulism. It is useless to occupy your time with 
all that, and there is no need for me to enter into this 
examination, to point out to you the surest and the most 
simple path, and to instruct you how to draw all the a<i- 
vantages possible from somnambulism, at whatever degree 
it may occur. 

When your somnambulist shall have given an affirmative 
answer to your first question, " Are you asleep?" you may 
address others to him. These questions should be simple, 
clear, well adapted, and concise : they should be made 
slowly, with an interval between them, leaving the som- 
nambulist all the time he wishes to reflect upon them. If 
you have been able to suppress your curiosity, which is 
always more or less injurious; if you do not suffer yourself 
to be astonished to see one who is asleep answer you with 
propriety ; if you have no other end in view but the doing 
of good; if you do not think of collecting observations, — you 
will put only those questions which are necessary. The 
response made to the first one will suggest others to you, 
always in relation to the means of curing the patient. 

The following may serve as an example of the series of 
questions to be first put to your somnambulist. 

" Do you feel well ? " 

"Does my manner of proceeding agree with you?" 

" Will you point out any other mode?" 

" How long shall I let you sleep? " 

<{ How shall I wake you ? " 

il When shall I magnetize you again ? " 

* l Have you any directions to give me? " 

" Do you think I shall succeed in curing you ? " 

These questions will assuredly be enough for the first 
day, when somnambulism has been induced. At the next 
sitting, it ought to be induced sooner; but you will not try 
to bring it on immediately, by charging the head. You 
will first employ magnetism by the long pass; and, when 
your somnambulist assures you that he is sleeping, you 
will let him have a little time longer to collect himself. 

Then, after having repeated some of the preceding ques- 
7 



74 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V. 

tions, you may ask him whether he sees where his disease 
is : if he says yes, you may request him to describe it ; if 
he says no, you may persuade him to look for it, observing 
to keep his attention to the point. You will take care not 
to form your questions in such a manner as to suggest 
replies which he can make without reflection, through 
indolence, or the desire of pleasing you ; you must let him 
be occupied wholly with himself, with his disease, and 
with the means of cure. 

When he has once explained to you what he thinks of 
the nature of his disease, of its causes, of its consequences, 
of the crises he expects, you should ask him to search out 
the remedial means proper to be pursued in connection 
with magnetism. You should listen to him attentively ; 
you should take notes of what he tells you, if you are fearful 
of forgetting it. You should ask him whether he is very 
sure of the effect which his prescriptions will produce ; 
and if in them there is found any thing which appears 
to you improper ^ you should make known to him your 
objections. 

You should especially take care to inform yourself well 
of the crises which are to bring on the cure, that you may 
not be alarmed at such as he has announced, and that you 
may know well the mode of soothing them. 

You must be exact in magnetizing him at the hour indi- 
cated by him, and by the processes which he judges most 
appropriate. You must ask him what things you ought to 
let him forget, what things it is proper to warn him of, and 
what means it is proper to take to induce him to follow out 
his own prescriptions. 

When he is awake, you should let him be entirely igno- 
rant of his being a somnambulist, and not let him suspect 
that he has spoken, provided he has not of himself ex- 
pressly recommended that you should inform him of it, 
either to inspire him with confidence in regard to any 
thing that disturbs him, or to induce him to follow a course 
of regimen, or to do something useful, which, when he is 
awake, is counter to his inclination. But, in this case, you 
will merely tell him what he believed absolutely necessary 
to know, and you will entreat him not to speak about it to 
any person. It is very rare that a patient has the curiosity 
to be informed of what he has said in a state of somnam- 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 75 

bulism. I believe, also, that it never happens, when the 
raagnetizer, during somnambulism, has forbidden him to 
meddle with it after waking. 

I have indicated the kind of conversation you ought to 
hold with your somnambulist. I cannot insist too much 
upon a point on which chiefly depends the developement 
and the direction of his faculties. I cannot give any 
advice in relation to the details, because it would not be 
equally applicable to all cases. But there is a general rule 
from which you ought never to depart; which is, never, on 
any account, to permit any question of curiosity, any at- 
tempt to prove the lucidity of your somnambulist ; to speak 
to him solely of his disease ; to direct all his attention to 
the means he ought to adopt for the restoration of his 
health. His cure is your essential object, your principal 
airs ; you should not desert it for a moment. 

I know that one may sometimes profit by the confidence 
of a somnambulist, to combine with him the means of 
correcting his faults, and of rendering his conduct more 
regular; to break off dangerous associations; and, in fine, to 
apply to his ordinary state the elevated moral sensibility 
which he exhibits in somnambulism. In this, one will not 
depart from the rule I have prescribed; he merely gives it 
a greater extension. For it is then, in effect, a question 
about preventing or curing a moral disease, more de- 
structive than a physical one, and which often aggravates 
the latter. You are doing right, since you have really no 
other object in view, no other idea, than the intention of 
doing good to him whom you magnetize, and do not engage 
him except in that which is most essential to him. 

The faculties of somnambulists are limited. Their sur- 
prising penetration may be regarded as the effect of a con- 
centration upon one single class of sensations, upon one 
order of ideas; the more their attention is distracted by 
various subjects, the less of it will they give to the essential 
object. 

If your somnambulist appears to meddle with things 
which do not promote his return to health, employ your 
will to withdraw him from them ; do not hear him ; and 
especially do not appear as if you were astonished at the 
proofs which he affords of his lucidity. You will excite 
his vanity, and that is very dangerous ; for when you have 



76 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CTHAP. T. 

once awakened in him this sentiment, to which somnam- 
bulists are in general very much inclined, you can no more 
depend upon any thing. 

In the state of somnambulism, the moral sensibility is 
ordinarily much more lively, and the somnambulists are 
often disposed to abandon themselves to the ideas or the 
sentiments which have affected them in their common 
state. Endeavor to withdraw them from these, or at least 
do not say or do any thing which might favor this dis- 
position. 

There are some somnambulists endowed with a sur- 
prising clairvoyance, which is extended to objects that 
are very distant, and entirely foreign to what interests 
them in the wakeful state. But these somnambulists are 
rare ; and it is only with a great deal of precaution and re- 
serve that we should have recourse to them. I shall return 
to this subject after having finished what I have to say 
about ordinary somnambulists. 

It would be advantageous to the somnambulist to be 
alone with his magnetizer. As in most circumstances 
this would be inconvenient or improper, you will be careful 
to have only one witness, who is always to be the same 
person, and who takes an interest in the patient. You» 
will banish all useless witnesses, all who are excited by 
mere curiosity, and especially all the incredulous. Ali 
such must, of necessity,, distract your attention. He who is 
conscious that another is watching his motions, does not 
act with the same single-mindedness, and the same freedom y 
as he does who thinks himself alone. The idea of the 
judgement which the spectators will form, seizes him from 
time to time, in spite of himself, and prevents him from 
concentrating all his faculties upon a single object. The 
more you are observed, with the less advantage will you 
magnetize. 

If there is a physician to whom you have imparted your 
attempt to pursue a magnetic treatment, and whom you 
have also engaged to attend when wanted, you will cer- 
tainly have a desire to let him see your somnambulist, 
either to convince him of the effects which you produce, 
or to give him an opportunity of forming an opinion upon 
the character of the disease; but guard well against yield- 
ing to this conceit, which appears to have a useful purpose^, 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT, 77 

though it really has its source in vanity. Nothing is more 
hurtful to a somnambulist than the presence of a physician 
who is not familiarized to the processes and the phenom- 
ena of magnetism. The physician and the somnambulist 
do not speak the same language ; they do not see in the 
same manner. Your somnambulist would wish to convince 
the physician ; he will conduct his conversation with much 
address ; he will seek to answer all difficulties ; he will lose 
that simplicity which is necessary for his clairvoyance ; he 
will depart from the line which nature has traced out for 
him; he will make use of all the resources of his wit; 
and, in the same degree, he will cease to have the faculties 
which are really useful to him. Give an account to the 
physician of what takes place, and you will do well ; but 
limit yourself to a simple and sincere relation of facts. 
What he does not believe on your authority, he will be- 
lieve no better when he sees it, unless he has made experi- 
ments ; and every experiment is extremely injurious. 

To the reasons which I have given for excluding all 
kinds of witnesses, I can add another, which is stronger 
than the others. 

There is in most somnambulists a developement of sen- 
sibility, of which we can have no conception. They are 
susceptible of receiving influence from every thing that 
surrounds them, and principally from living beings. They 
are not only affected by physical emanations, or the effluvia 
of living bodies, but also, to a degree much more surpris- 
ing, by the thoughts and sentiments of those who surround 
them, or who are busy with them. 

If you are alone with a somnambulist, and any one is 
permitted to enter, the somnambulist generally perceives it. 
Sometimes the person who enters is indifferent to him ; at 
other times he feels for him either a sympathy or an an- 
tipathy. In either case, it diminishes his concentrativeness. 
If he entertains a sympathy, his attention is divided ; if an 
antipathy, he suffers. If the stranger is incredulous, and 
suspects the sincerity of the somnambulist, or makes a jest 
of what he sees, the somnambulist is troubled, and loses his 
lucidity. If many witnesses surround the somnambulist, 
and are occupied about him, the fluid of each one of them 
acts upon his organization ; and, as these various fluids are 
not in harmony, he experiences discordant effects from 
7* 



78 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. T. 

them. If you have around you only the persons who de- 
sire the cure of the patient, and if you magnetize them all 
to put them in communication, and all are in good health, 
the somnambulist may not be in the least disquieted. But 
it will be difficult to prevent many of the spectators from 
often occupying themselves with other things besides the 
patient. For, every time they occupy themselves with 
something else, they will break the communication; and 
these interruptions produce shocks, (secousses,) which dis- 
turb the tranquil reign of somnambulism. There is some- 
times among the spectators some one who inspires the 
somnambulist with a particular affection, of the most ex- 
alted kind ; and that would turn him aside from his atten- 
tion to himself: the will of the magnetizer being no longer 
active, he does not exert the same control, and the som- 
nambulism takes an irregular character. The greater part 
of somnambulists, even in the hands of good magnetizers,, 
have lost a portion of their faculties, because many persons 
in succession have been permitted to see them. 

At the close of the preceding chapter, I said that, in a 
magnetic treatment, there ought to be only one will active,, 
to which all others ought to be subordinate. This rule is 
especially to be observed when you have somnambulists. 
M. de Puysegur has not failed to call attention to this ; and 
yet many well-informed magnetizers do not pay sufficient 
regard to it. As to those who try it for the first time, it is 
almost impossible that they should feel the importance of it,, 
and that even the desire of enlightening themselves upon 
the means of doing more good, should not mislead them 
from the path which would conduct them most surely to 
the accomplishment of their object. 

It is proper to enter into some details upon this head. 

When a person, who has no experience, obtains for tne 
first time some of the singular effects which generally pre- 
cede lucid somnambulism, he thinks it would be useful to 
get acquainted with an experienced magnetizer. If he 
finds one, he entreats him to come and assist at the sittings, 
to give him instructions. This conduct, which is dictated 
by a very praiseworthy motive, is, nevertheless, in need of 
precaution ; and I cannot point out the precautions except 
by recalling attention to two phenomena, the reality of 
which a great number of magnetic experiments demonstrate. 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 79 

1st. Somnambulists, or the persons who are in a mag- 
netic state, feel the influence of those who approach them, 
especially of those who have an active will. 

2d. Persons who are in the habit of magnetizing, natu- 
rally emit the fluid from them, and act powerfully, even 
without a determinate intention, upon those who are in the 
magnetic state. 

From this it follows that the presence of a magnetizer 
is never a matter of indifference, and that, in certain cir- 
cumstances, it might be more hurtful than that of one who 
comes out of curiosity. If the magnetizer disapproves of 
any of your processes, if he counteracts your action in any 
manner whatever, he will do an injury to your somnambu- 
list. This inconvenience can always be avoided if he is 
warned against it, if he is attentive to himself, and if, on 
your part, you take the necessary precautions. 

When, then, you desire to consult with a magnetizer, and 
call him in to see your somnambulist, this magnetizer must 
put himself in communication with you; must submit his 
will to yours ; must beware of acting alone ; must occupy 
himself only in concurring in the good you wish to do ; 
must not seek the reason of the processes you employ; must 
not pretend to direct you in any thing ; so that nothing 
shall affect your somnambulist except through you. When 
the sitting is ended, the magnetizer can make his observa- 
tions, and give you advice ; and, after having reflected upon 
the principles he has given you, you can adopt and make 
use of them. 

In my Critical History , book first, chapter fourth, I have 
related What took place the first time I produced somnam- 
bulism. I was a mere novice. I invited a magnetizer, a 
pupil of Mesmer, and who had great power, to instruct me 
how to make my somnambulist speak. He came to see 
him ; he did not touch him ; and yet he exercised such 
an influence upon him, that the course of the somnambu- 
lism was entirely deranged, and my young somnambulist, 
who had exhibited for several days the most extraordinary 
clairvoyance, ceased to manifest his different faculties to 
acquire suddenly that of expressing himself by words, and 
made no progress afterwards. May the instruction which 
I now give cause others to avoid the numerous faults I 
committed before I acquired experience of my own ! 



80 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [cttAP. V, 

1 might here enter into many details relative to the 
essential character of somnambulism, the general cause of 
the innumerable modifications it presents, the distinction 
between the states of wakefulness, sleep, and delirium ; and 
to the transitions from one of these states to another ; but I 
resolved to abstain from all theory, and limit myself to the 
giving of precepts which I believe correct, without explain- 
ing the reasons of my adopting them. I will then sim~ 
ply say, — 

If your patient become a somnambulist, have near you 
only the witness whom you admitted at the commence- 
ment, and who is in communication with you. Refuse 
absolutely to show him to any curious person, and let no 
one approach him, except when it will be of utility, and 
with the precautions which I shall soon indicate. Put no 
questions to him except such as relate to his health, and 
graduate these questions so as not to fatigue him. Do not 
seek for wonderful effects ; refrain, by all means, from re- 
lating those which you have seen. You can give yourself 
this satisfaction when the treatment is ended ; but, until 
then, you ought to think only of the cure. 

If your somnambulist prescribes remedies for himself, 
you will contrive with him the means proper to be followed 
to induce him to take them when he is awakened. 

If among the remedies there are some that you cannot 
procure, or whose application presents too great difficulty, 
you will induce him to substitute others. If he requests 
you to magnetize him at an hour or under circumstances 
which render it impossible to you, you will explain to him 
the reasons that oppose it, and determine him to search 
out the means of supplying your presence, at the moment 
when he thinks it would be necessary to him. 

Some somnambulists, after having announced that their 
condition is very serious, consider it with a sort of indiffer- 
ence, and do not wish to give themselves the trouble of 
looking for a remedy. Others manifest a reluctance to 
examine their disease. The sight of the disorder which 
they perceive in their internal organs, affrights them* 
When this is the case, you must not partake of the fears 
of your somnambulist. You must exert the power of your 
will to determine him to a very scrupulous examination of 
his complaint, to consider, without affright, the interior of 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 81 

his own body, as if it were not his own, and to make efforts 
to discover the means of cure. If you are calm, and know 
how to exert your will, your somnambulist will certainly 
obey you ; he will recover himself, and explain to you the 
actual danger, and the means of removing it. Perhaps 
you will not succeed in curing him ; but you will procure 
him all the soothing influence possible, and you will know 
to what you ought to direct your efforts. Do not lose hope, 
even when he assures you that his disease is incurable. 
Somnambulists have often said, at the first sittings, that it 
was impossible to rescue them from death, and afterwards 
have found the means of restoration to health. 

When your somnambulist gives you a description of his 
disease, you must listen without interrupting him. You 
may afterwards request him to explain more clearly, and 
more in detail, what you were not able to understand. 
You may interrogate him about things which you ought to 
be acquainted with in order to perform your own duty well, 
but you should go no farther. Ask him no anatomical 
questions. He perceives the seat of his own disorder ; he 
sees the lesion which exists in one part ; but it is rare that 
he sees the situation, the form, and the tissue of his organs, 
especially of those which are not affected. If you make 
him talk beyond this, you will obtain from him only vague 
and perhaps erroneous views. He will not make a mistake 
either in foretelling a crisis, in pointing out a remedy, or 
in describing the effects it will produce ; but he could 
easily give you explanations which would be ridiculous in 
proportion to the interest you display in hearing them. 
You do ■ not interrogate your somnambulist to dissipate 
your doubts, for you ought not to have doubts; if you have, 
you would magnetize very badly ; nor is it to satisfy your 
curiosity, for this would withdraw you from the principal 
object ; nor is it, finally, to acquire a knowledge of physi- 
ology, anatomy, or medicine ; for what a somnambulist 
says, is not applicable to any but himself. Confine your- 
self to the knowledge of what is requisite for his restora- 
tion, and take care not to let his imagination dwell upon 
things foreign to this object. If he busies himself about 
persons absent, bring him back to what concerns himself, 
without permitting yourself to wonder at the faculty he 



82 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP, V. 

possesses of seeing at a distance, and without seeking new- 
proofs of this faculty. 

Some circumstances authorize the magnetizer to admit 
some one to his treatment; there are also some which 
make it his duty to do it. I will give examples, and show 
how one ought to conduct himself in such cases. If your 
somnambulist often mentions to you a person who interests 
him, and desires you to bring him in, and you see no in- 
convenience in doing it, you may yield to his wish. Thus 
a woman in the magnetic state might be continually dwell- 
ing upon her daughter, whose state of health gives her 
anxiety, and to whom she wishes to give advice. Do not 
refuse to let her enter, and put her in communication. 
The same might be said of a husband, or an intimate 
friend. 

If your somnambulist gives proofs of remarkable lucidity, 
and affirms that he is able to know the disease of another, 
as well as his own, and if a consultation would not fatigue 
him, you could consent to it, in order to render service to 
one who desires it, and has confidence. But these consul- 
tations ought to be rare, and you ought never to permit 
two to be held the same day. You ought also to avoid 
trusting the direction of many patients at a time to a som- 
nambulist. He can hardly take the same interest in all, 
identify himself alternately with each, and manage them 
well. As to the rest, it depends upon the faculties of the 
somnambulists.* In all cases, it is necessary to avoid 
fatiguing them. 

Before introducing a patient to your somnambulist, you 
will let him touch something that the patient has worn, 
so that he may tell you whether he feels any repugnance 
to it, and whether he sees any danger in being put in 
communication with him. When you have introduced 
the patient, you will require him to speak only of his 
health ; and if the conversation takes another turn, you 
will oppose it. 

You will not permit any one to give your somnambulist 
any token of gratitude ; he should not be moved by any 
other desire than that of doing good. 

* The sensibility, the clairvoyance, the power of attention, differ 
prodigiously in different somnambulists, and in the same somnam- 
bulists at various times. 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 83 

You will not suffer your somnambulist to be magnetized 
indiscriminately by any person. The somnambulists who 
are in communication with several magnetizers, end by 
losing their lucidity. 

If indispensable business forces you to interrupt the 
treatment of your somnambulist, have an understanding 
with him to find some one to supply your place. Should 
the interruption be only for a few days, the magnetizer 
taking your place should act only in your name, according 
to your views and your method, and under your direction. 
If the interruption is to be of long continuance, you should 
give up your somnambulist entirely. 

If your somnambulist has caprices, you will oppose them 
by letting him know your will, without dispute. Never 
suffer him to get the upper hand of you. You ought to 
yield all that will conduce to his good, and resist his fan- 
tastic notions. You are for him an attentive and benevo- 
lent, but a just and inflexible, providence. 

If your somnambulist has mental troubles which aggra- 
vate his malady, seek with him the means of easing them. 
You will console him, and profit by his confidence to re- 
lieve his anxieties, and destroy the cause. If he has any 
inclinations which you disapprove of, employ your ascen- 
dency in vanquishing them. 

You must avoid, most carefully, penetrating into the 
secrets of your somnambulist, when it is not evidently 
useful to him to have these secrets known to you. I need 
not add that, if he tells you any thing which he would not 
have told you in the ordinary state, you will never permit 
yourself to impart it to any person, not even to your most 
intimate friend. 

I have already said that, if the somnambulist prescribes 
for himself remedies which appear improper for his state, 
the magnetizer ought not to depend upon his first sug- 
gestion. 1 ought to insist upon this point. 

It is very rare that a somnambulist orders for himself a 
remedy which would be injurious to him, or mistakes in 
regard to the doses; yet this may happen, for there are 
instances of it ; and though it happen but once in a thou- 
sand times, it would be a sufficient reason for taking the 
greatest precautions. I am going to explain the possible 
causes of mistakes, and the means of preventing the con- 
sequences. 



84 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [cHAP. V. 

The state of somnambulism is not always accompanied 
with a perfect clairvoyance; and that clairvoyance, when 
it is manifested in the most surprising manner, is often 
relative to a certain order of ideas, and variable in its in- 
tensity. For the proper exercise of it, the somnambulist 
must concentrate his faculties upon a single object, without 
distraction, without trouble, without the intervention of 
any foreign influence to change the direction of his mind. 
It is necessary that the interest he takes in the object 
which occupies his mind, should determine him to make 
efforts of attention, to vanquish his indolence, and free 
himself from all the prejudices of his ordinary state. One 
might tell me that the interest which the somnambulist 
takes in his own health will prevail with him over every 
other consideration ; that he will see his own body more 
distinctly than any thing else ; and, if there be in him an 
instinctive faculty, he will exercise it upon his own wants. 
This would appear to be the case, but it is not always so. 

Many somnambulists, either through vanity or excess of 
benevolence, are more fond of being busy about others 
than about themselves. Others are unwilling to examine 
their own disease and the consequences it may have. 
Others, again, seem to set little value upon their cure. 
They think they shall be more happy when their souls 
shall be freed from the bondage of matter. The magnet- 
izer, instead of being amazed at this species of exaltation, 
should employ all the power of his will to bring it to an 
end, and to induce the somnambulist to be occupied only 
with his own health. All that I have said in this chapter 
tends to show the importance of these principles ; and if my 
readers have confidence in me, they will keep themselves 
free from enthusiasm, which is much more dangerous than 
incredulity. 

But suppose a somnambulist is occupied only about his 
own physical state, and his own cure ; suppose his clair- 
voyance is real, and he speaks from his actual perceptions, 
and not from anterior impressions; he may, nevertheless, 
commit an error in the treatment he prescribes for him- 
self. This is owing to a cause to which it is proper to 
call attention. 

It often happens that a patient, when put into a state of 
somnambulism, is afflicted at the same time with several 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT, 85 

very dangerous diseases, and that the treatment which is 
proper for one is not proper for another. The somnam- 
bulist at first is employed upon the organ the most affected — 
the most severe and painful malady; he fixes his attention 
upon that which gives him the most uneasiness, and, in 
consequence, prescribes remedies for himself, without exam- 
ining whether they are not otherwise injurious. I have 
lately seen an instance of this. A somnambulist whose 
lungs were affected, and whose stomach was much im- 
paired, ordered for her stomach a remedy which would 
have probably aggravated the disease of the lungs. The 
magnetizer made some observations to her about it; she 
agreed that these observations were just ; she put off the 
use of the remedy she had prescribed for herself; and, 
fifteen days afterwards, she cried out, of her own accord, 
** How glad I am that you did not permit me to take the 
medicine I thought of taking; now the state of my lungs 
allows me to make use of it." She was, in fact, cured. 
She would not have been, if the magnetizer had been less 
prudent It may be laid down as a general rule, that, when 
the somnambulist is attacked by several diseases, he is 
naturally induced to fix his attention upon that which 
appears to him the most serious. 

Some precautions will now be given by which you may 
be sure of preventing the dangers springing from too much 
precipitation, or from blind confidence. 

When your somnambulist prescribes for himself a rem- 
edy which appears to be unsuitable to his condition, you 
will make your objections to him ; you will engage him to 
examine the state of his organs successively, and with the 
greatest attention, and give you an account of them. You 
will request him to explain the reasons which have induced 
him to choose the remedy in question, and to describe 
accurately the effects he anticipates from it. You will 
present him the medicine, and make him touch and taste 
it. You will request him to tell what a dose should be, 
not only by the name of the measure or weight, but by 
showing you the quantity which he wishes to take. If, 
after all these precautions, he persists, you may depend 
upon him. 

It seems impossible to me that, in the state of somnam- 
bulism, an individual should entertain the criminal project 
8 



86 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [cHAP. V. 

of putting an end to his own existence ; and I could not 
believe that, after having carefully examined a deleterious 
substance, he would not reject it. Yet if it should happen 
that the prescription of a somnambulist may put his life in 
imminent danger, the magnetizer, it is evident, ought not 
to conform to it. Repeated proofs of great clairvoyance 
and purity of intention are, doubtless, powerful motives of 
confidence. But they do not give us the entire certainty, 
which alone may authorize us to make use of an unknown 
means, where an error would be attended with fatal con- 
sequences.* 

Somnambulists often prescribe for themselves remedies 
of which they have heard, or of which they have formerly 
made trial. In place of these one might substitute others 
much more efficacious. You should then call their at- 
tention to what appears more proper for them, and dis- 
cuss the motives of their choice. 

Many things might be added in relation to the direction 
of somnambulists ; but I think they will be naturally de- 
duced from the principles which I have laid down. 

I return to the manner of applying the processes when 
somnambulism has been induced. 

The somnambulist always indicates the processes which 
are proper for him ; so that there can be no uncertainty 
about them. These processes are sometimes very labo- 
rious and very fatiguing to the magnetizer ; they demand 
from him patience, courage, and devotedness ; yet they are 
indispensable to develope and happily terminate a crisis 
essential to the cure : but this is very seldom. The greater 
part of the time, nature labors alone during somnambulism, 
and you have no need of doing any thing more than to 

* An epileptic patient, who was under magnetic treatment at the 
Salpetriere Hospital, declared the only means of curing her would 
be to excite in her, in the most critical circumstances, and by violent 
means, a sudden fright, which would naturally put her life in the 
greatest danger. For three months she insisted upon the same thing. 
They finally resolved to follow her advice, and the result was a cure. 
But they who did this were able physicians. They knew the des- 
perate state of the patient ; they had never seen her make mistakes ; 
they judged that the shock indicated might produce a salutary crisis, 
which could not be obtained by any other means ; and their pro- 
fession authorized them to calculate the chances of danger and suc- 
cess. A magnetizer, who was not a physician, would not have been 
able to assume such a responsibility. 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 87 

hold the thumbs of the somnambulist, or place your hand 
upon his knees, or even to be busy about him. 

You need not magnetize him longer than he judges 
useful, on the days and at the hour he intimates. If it is 
essential not to interrupt a crisis at its commencement, it 
is often injurious to prolong it beyond the necessary time. 

There are somnambulists who fear the impression of too 
strong a light. I have seen some of them who caused 
themselves to be bandaged across the eyes ; but there are 
others who experience fatigue by closing the eyelids, and 
who request to have their eyes opened. The magnetizer 
succeeds in doing this by making passes across the eyes, 
without its diminishing the intensity of somnambulism. 
The somnambulist then seems to be in his natural state; 
but it is necessary to watch over him with the precautions 
he indicates. There are cases when this non-apparent 
somnambulism can be very useful, as we shall soon see. 

When we wish to ask the somnambulist a question, it is 
necessary to explain our will by words. Good somnam- 
bulists understand the will without our speaking to them. 
But why should we employ this mode when there is no 
need of it ? It is an experiment ; and it is a rule which 
every one ought to adopt, to interdict all experiment. I 
agree that there are cases where it is expedient to employ 
only the influence of the will. For instance, there may be 
near you a third person, and you perceive your somnam- 
bulist, who thinks himself alone with you, about to say 
things which this third person ought not to know ; you 
will impose silence by your will. 

At the close of the sitting, when you wish to waken 
your somnambulist, you will first make passes along the 
legs to free the head ; then you will make some across the 
eyes, to open them, saying to him, "Wake I" The eyes 
often remain shut after the somnambulist is awakened. You 
will bring them from this condition by patiently passing your 
fingers many times across them. Then you will disperse 
the fluid from the head, and from the rest of the body, by 
passes made crosswise at a distance, in order to scatter and 
shake it off. You will have the precaution to continue 
this until your somnambulist shall be perfectly roused from 
sleep. 

It is of the very greatest consequence to establish a line 



88 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V. 

of demarkation, well defined, between the state of som- 
nambulism, and the natural state of wakefulness. The 
somnambulist, when he is awakened, ought to preserve 
nothing — positively nothing — of the sensations which he 
experienced, nor of the ideas which occupied him, in som- 
nambulism. Somnambulism, prolonged beyond the neces- 
sary time, imparts a nervous susceptibility, which is attended 
with great inconveniences; it ought to cease after the cure. 
If it should continue and renew itself spontaneously, it 
would itself be a disease. 

I have already noticed that it would always be expedient, 
as far as possible, to let the patient remain ignorant that he 
has been a somnambulist ; and that, excepting certain very 
rare cases, it is proper never to repeat what he may have 
uttered ; for it would establish between the ideas of the 
natural state and those of somnambulism a relation which 
is contrary to the natural order, and which equally alters 
the habitual faculties and the somnambulic faculties. If 
you know how to control yourself by your own will, your 
patient will never be informed of any thing which you 
think ought to be kept from him. 

Somnambulists perfectly abstracted, whose interior fac- 
ulties have acquired great energy, are often found in a 
frame of mind of which you might avail yourself advan- 
tageously to make them follow a course of regimen, or to 
make them do things useful for them, but contrary to their 
habits and inclinations. The magnetizer can, after it has 
been mutually agreed upon, impress upon them, while in 
the somnambulic state, an idea or a determination which 
will influence them in the natural state, without their 
knowing the cause. For instance, the magnetizer will say 
to the somnambulist, "You will return home at such an 
hour ; you will not go this evening to the theatre ; you will 
clothe yourself in such a manner ; you will take your med- 
icines without being obstinate ; you will take no liquor ; 
you will drink no coffee; you will occupy yourself no 
longer in such a thing ; you ivill drive away such a fear ; 
you will forget such a thing." The somnambulist will be 
naturally induced to do what has been thus prescribed. 
He will recollect it without suspecting it to be any thing 
more than a recollection of what you have ordered for his 
benefit \ he will have a desire for what you have advised 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 89 

him, and a dislike to what you have interdicted. Take 
advantage of this empire of your will, and of this concert 
with him, solely for the benefit of the patient. Your will 
probably acts merely in modifying his, and you might 
obtain from him the performance of indifferent things, to 
which he would devote himself to please you; but this 
would be contrary to the spirit and design of magnetism. 

You may often find it in your power, while your patient 
is in the somnambulic state, to induce him to take a medi- 
cine for which he has a repugnance. I have seen a lady, 
who had a horror at the sight of leeches, cause them to be 
applied to her feet during somnambulism, and say to her 
magnetizer, " Prevent me from looking at my feet when I 
awake." In fact she never suspected that any one had 
applied leeches to her. 

Many somnambulists are endowed with inconceivable 
address, and can perform certain operations as well as the 
best surgeons. I am acquainted with a lady, who, in the 
state of somnambulism, opened a swelling beneath her 
breast, and dressed the wound until it was healed. 

This address of somnambulists can be useful to others 
as well as to themselves, especially when it is accompanied 
with clairvoyance ; there are some cases, even, when they 
can render the greatest service. I will instance a midwife, 
who, having become a somnambulist during a disease for 
which she caused herself to be magnetized, preserved the 
same faculties after her restoration to health. When she 
is called upon to exercise her profession, if the case ap- 
pears to present any difficulties, she goes to her mag- 
netizer, who puts her into somnambulism, and opens her 
eyes. She declared to me that, in this state, she could 
act with much more address, strength, and certainty. In 
January last, she in this manner very successfully de- 
livered of three children a woman whose state was very 
dangerous 

Among the phenomena which somnambulism often pre- 
sents, there is one from which persons might, under certain 
circumstances, derive a great advantage. It is that of ab- 
solute insensibility. There are many somnambulists that 
one could pinch and prick very hard without their feeling 
it. One of the somnambulists that were in the Salpetriere 
Hospital received no impression from a bottle of sal volatile 
8* 



90 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V, 

applied to her nose ; and, when experiments in magnetism 
were made at the Hotel Dieu Hospital, moxas were applied 
to two somnambulists, who were not awakened by them. 
Persons have concluded, from these dangerous experiments, 
that, if a surgical operation were necessary to a patient 
susceptible of magnetism, it might be done without causing 
pain; and it is true in certain cases. But, although this 
insensibility is displayed by nearly all somnambulists who 
have been at the Hotel Dieu and the Salpetriere, it is far 
from being general. I am even inclined to think it would 
never occur, if the magnetizers did not overcharge their 
subjects, and if they took care to preserve the harmony of 
the system. My somnambulists have never exhibited it to 
me. On the contrary, their sensibility was more delicate 
than in the natural state ; the contact of a body not mag- 
netized was disagreeable to them ; and the touch of a 
stranger gave them a great deal of pain. I am also certain 
that somnambulists have experienced convulsions, and have 
been awaked, by having been roughly touched by some 
one who was not in communication. 

I know that a magnetizer can by his will paralyze any 
limb of his somnambulist ; but he ought never to permit 
himself the trial of this experiment. As to the rest, if a 
patient has need of an operation that is painful, we should 
learn from him whether it ought to be performed during 
somnambulism, or during the natural state, and what pre- 
cautions ought to be taken to insure success. 

The absolute insensibility of the organs of sense and of 
those of motion, united to the exaltation of sentiment and 
of thought, sometimes a symptom that life is drawing 
towards the brain and the epigastrum. The spirit seems 
then to disengage itself from the organs, and the somnam- 
bulist becomes independent of the will of the magnetizer. 

This state, to which the name of ecstasy, or magnetic 
exaltation, has been given, and which many German authors 
have considered as the most elevated state of magnetism, 
is exceedingly dangerous. You could not suddenly wake 
one who is in it, and if you should succeed in doing it, he 
would remain in a state of excessive weakness, and perhaps 
of paralysis, which you could not put an end to without 
great exertion. I cannot, then, recommend too strongly to 
magnetizers to oppose the developement of this crisis. I 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 91 

believe even that it would hardly ever present itself, if the 
somnambulist were to busy himself only about his own 
health, and if one were to take care to free the head, and 
to reestablish harmony, when he sees the limbs stiffen and 
become insensible. I shall return hereafter to this subject. 
The details into which I have entered appear sufficient 
to make you acquainted with somnambulism, as it fre- 
quently presents itself in the course of a magnetic treat- 
ment, and with the means of directing it to a useful purpose, 
and of avoiding its inconveniences. I have also said, with 
sufficient distinctness, that this crisis, if you oppose the 
workings of Nature, might become as hurtful as it would 
be salutary if you have the wisdom to listen to her and aid 
her. I know that some instances of success obtained by 
imprudent rashness might be cited ; but these instances 
are rare. Wise cautiousness can never be a disadvantage; 
and when we desert it, we expose ourselves to the greatest 
dangers. There remains, then, nothing essential to say 
upon the application of somnambulism to the treatment of 
diseases ; and when I commenced writing this chapter, it 
did not enter into my plan to go farther.* I resolved to 
pass over in silence the extraordinary phenomena. I 
thought that those who had not seen analogous ones, would 
regard me as a visionary ; and that such a reputation 
would not only be afflictive to me, but might also put an 
obstacle in the way of my doing the good which I wish to 
do ; for people will be guided by the counsels of a man 
subject to illusions no more than by those of a man void 
of good faith. But after having devoted reflection to it, I 
thought it my duty to yield to more important considera- 
tions, and to elevate myself above the fears excited by self- 

* Various somnambulists exhibit very different, phenomena ; and 
the only distinctive and constant character of somnambulism is, the 
existence of a new mode of perception. For instance, there are 
abstracted somnambulists ; there are others who are not. Some of 
them exhibit a species of attraction like magnetic needles ; others 
have only the internal faculties. Some of them have all the sensa- 
tions concentrated at the epigastrum ; others make use of some of 
their senses. There are, finally, some of them, who, after waking, 
preserve for a certain time the recollection of the impressions they 
have received, and of the ideas they have had during the crisis. I 
was obliged to limit myself to explain what takes place most com- 
monly, and to teach what it is necessary to know to assist nature, 
and to derive from somnambulism the greatest advantage. 



92 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V. 

love. I am determined, then, to speak of a very singular 
state, because it may be presented to others as it has been 
to me and to many of my friends, and which it is important 
to know, that it may not be confounded with the exaltation, 
of which I have already pointed out the danger, and that 
its developement may not be counteracted. 

I am first going to describe the species of somnambulism 
of which I wish to speak. I will then tell how one ought 
to conduct himself with those who have reached that state, 
if he would derive any advantage from it, to them or to 
himself. 

In this state the circulation is regular, the heat is equal 
through all the body, and the members preserve their sen- 
sibility. The somnambulist is so thoroughly in communi- 
cation with his magnetizer as to read his thoughts, but 
receives no impression through the organs of sense. It is 
no longer the sensation which produces ideas ; on the 
contrary, it is the ideas which produce sensations. In the 
ordinary state, every thing parts from the circumference to 
reach the centre ; in this, every thing parts from the centre 
to reach the circumference ; and this circumference some- 
times extends to illimitable distances. But it is not this 
which characterizes the degree of somnambulism of which 
I speak. It is the absolute indifference to what appertains 
to terrestrial objects, to the interests of fortune or of repu- 
tation. It is the absence of the passions and the opinions 
by which one is governed in the ordinary state, and of 
even all acquired ideas, of which they can very well pre- 
serve the recollection, but to which they no longer attach 
importance. It is the little interest that they take in life ; 
it is a novel manner of viewing objects ; it is a quick and 
direct judgment, accompanied with an intimate conviction. 
The somnambulist appears to have lost the faculties by 
which we are directed ; the impressions and notions which 
come from without do not reach him ; but, during the 
silence which he observes in regard to what is foreign to 
his soul, he feels within himself the developement of a new 
light, whose rays are darted upon all that excites in him a 
real interest. At the same time, the sentiment of conscien- 
tiousness is aroused, and determines the judgement which 
he ought to form. Thus the somnambulist possesses at 
the same time the torch which gives him his light, and the 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 93 

compass that points out his way. This torch and this 
compass are not the product of somnambulism ; they are 
always in us ; but the distracting cares of this world, the 
passions, and, above all, pride, and attachment to perishable 
things, prevent us from perceiving the one and consulting 
the other. 

When the somnambulist has reached this degree of ex- 
altation, his manner of speaking is almost always different 
from that which he has in his ordinary state. His diction 
is pure and simple, elegant and precise ; his manner unim- 
passioned ; every thing announces in him a state of tran- 
quillity, a distinct view of that of which he speaks, and an 
entire conviction of its reality. You perceive in his dis- 
course not the least of what is called excitement or enthu- 
siasm ; and I insist on this point, because those who have 
spoken of this state without having seen it, have supposed 
it to have a character opposed to what it really has, and 
which even serves to distinguish it. 

In this new situation, the mind is filled with religious 
ideas, with which, perhaps, it was never before occupied. 
He sees every where the action of Providence. This life 
appears to him only a journey, during which we ought to 
collect what is necessary for us in our everlasting mansions. 
The independence of the soul, the liberty of man, immor- 
tality, are to him evident truths. He is convinced that 
God hears us ; that prayer is the most efficacious means 
of obtaining his aid, and dissipating the ills around us, or 
at least of turning them to our advantage. Taking care to 
make our labors on earth, as well as the troubles we expe- 
rience, acceptable to God, appears to him a means of moral 
improvement. 

Charity is for him the first of virtues — that which affords 
us the easy means of expiating our sins, and which often 
suffices to obtain their remission. He is so much pene- 
trated with it, that he forgets himself for others, and no 
sacrifice for the sake of doing good costs him too much. 
This sentiment of benevolence is extended to all, and he 
makes supplications for those who hold opinions the most 
opposite to his own. Sometimes the prodigious difference 
he perceives between his new manner of viewing objects 
and that which he had in his ordinary state, the new lights 
which shine for him, the new faculties with which he finds 



94 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V. 

himself endowed, the immensity of the horizon which is 
spread before his eyes, persuade him that he is inspired ; 
what he says seems to him dictated by a voice from within; 
what he sees is shown to him ; he regards himself as the 
organ of a superior intelligence ; but this does not excite 
his vanity. He delights to reflect in silence, and he speaks 
to you only to say things useful for your moral direction. 

Happy the man who has chanced to meet a somnambulist 
of this kind ! for there is no means of bringing forth from an 
ordinary somnambulist the faculties 1 have just described. 
It is a horologe fabricated by Nature ; we can easily dis- 
turb its movements, but we can neither set it a-going, nor 
regulate it, because we are unacquainted with its springs. 
We must consult it, but we must not permit ourselves to 
touch it for the purpose of accelerating or retarding its 
motion. 

If, then, you see the state of which I am speaking manifest 
itself, you should listen attentively to your somnambulist 
You will put no question ; for the moment you design to 
direct him, you will cause him to leave the sphere in which 
he is ; you will turn aside his faculties from the object for 
which they are destined, and transport him into an immense 
field of illusions. The power of your will, however great 
it may be, cannot force him to see beyond the circle in 
which he is placed. If you mingle your ideas with his, 
your conjectures with his perceptions, you will obscure his 
clairvoyance. The only mode for you to pursue, is to 
favor its developement and its application. It is the confi- 
dence and the simplicity that you show, not by your words, 
but by the disposition of your soul, which has need of no 
expression in order to be perceived and recognized by him. 
Without doubt, some person will say to me, " But where 
is the proof that this state of my somnambulist is not owing 
to a peculiar disposition of his imagination, which causes 
him to mistake chimerical ideas for correct notions? Ought 
I to withdraw my reason to grant him a blind confidence? 
And how shall I assure myself of the truth of what he tells 
me, if I do not combat his opinions in order to hear his 
replies, and appreciate their correctness and their worth?" 

I will answer you in this manner : — I am very far from 
advising you to renounce your reason in order to adopt the 
ideas and follow the instructions of a somnambulist. On 



CHAP. V,] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 95 

the contrary, your reason and good sense must combine 
the whole, and your decision must spring from their proper 
exercise. But it is necessary to point out two conditions. 
While your somnambulist is giving utterance to his ideas, 
you will let him speak without interruption. You will not 
only make no objection, but you will banish from your 
mind all those which suggest themselves to you. You will 
not exert your will to influence or direct him. You will 
not demand of him an explanation of what he has told you, 
except when you have not well understood. You will not 
desire to know what he wishes to teach you of his own 
accord. You will also try not to be astonished at what 
appears to you extraordinary. You will not seek to pene- 
trate into that which appears incomprehensible. You will, 
above all, avoid putting your somnambulist to the proof, 
and taking indirect means to ascertain his clairvoyance. 
You will listen to him with self-forgetfulness, confidence, 
and simplicity, as a child listens to a mother when she 
relates things to form his heart and his understanding, 
while amusing his mind. But after he has reentered the 
ordinary state, and you are away from him, you will reca- 
pitulate all he has told you; you will examine the con- 
nection of his ideas; you will appreciate the correctness of 
his reasonings ; you will weigh the degree of utility in his 
instructions. You can then indulge your astonishment at 
the penetration with which he has read your heart ; at the 
sincerity of his wishes for your real happiness ; at the 
exactitude which he has shown you while speaking of a 
past event with which he was not acquainted ; at the 
probability of his previsions of the future, which it is useful 
for you to know. But this astonishment should not pro- 
duce conviction. The more marvellous a fact is, the more 
we ought to fear being seduced by appearances, to mistrust 
the impression they first make upon us, and search out the 
circumstances that may give them a natural explanation. 

Many somnambulists, when their faculties were exalted, 
have been known to read the thoughts of others, to have 
previsions, to be exempt from vanity, and moved solely by 
the desire of enlightening others; and yet to be the dupes 
of illusions which are mingled with the most luminous 
perceptions. You ought, then, to ascertain that his opin- 
ions are not produced by old impressions on the memory, 



96 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V. 

by the prejudices of early youth, by lectures or conver- 
sations which have formerly acted temporarily upon his 
mind; finally, that no exterior influence has contributed 
to impart a peculiar character to his manner of viewing 
things.* If, in all he tells you, there is nothing which 
cannot be verified, you will evidently perceive that he is 
not deceived, that the torch by which he is enlightened 
is not an ignis fatuus. Then your confidence will be 
excited by a train of facts and observations which deter- 
mine your reasoning ; and not by discourses more or less 
eloquent; by exhortations more or less affecting; by phe- 
nomena which are inexplicable, but which are seen else- 
where ; nor by images and descriptions more or less calcu- 
lated to move you. It should be only after this exam- 
ination, made in the spirit of reflection and in solitude, 
that you should form your judgment. It is essential that 
your belief should be supported by facts well demonstrated 
to your own mind, so that no objection may afterwards pre- 
sent itself which has not been settled beforehand; because 
this belief, far from being a fugitive opinion, ought in cer- 
tain respects to decide your conduct. 

Then, if it happens that your somnambulist enters sev- 
eral times in succession into the same state, you will con- 
tinue to hear him without any expression of thankfulness 
or approbation, but with a desire to profit by what he will 
tell you ; and perhaps you will find in him a guide who 
will not lead you astray. He will, at least, convince you 
of the existence of an order of things different from the 

* There are somnambulists who retrace with surprising facility 
the ideas which they received in their infancy, and upon whom 
these ideas exercise more control than those which they have since 
acquired. A very lucid somnambulist, magnetized by M. de Lau- 
sanne, afforded me a remarkable instance of this phenomenon. She 
was a woman about forty years old. She was born at St. Do- 
mingo, from whence she came to France at the age of six or seven 
years, and she had never afterwards been among Creoles. As soon 
as she was in the somnambulic state, she absolutely spoke nothing 
but the peculiar dialect (patois) which she had learned from the 
negress who had nursed her. In these recollections of infancy, in 
this return towards the first years of life, we must search for the 
cause of the opinions of some somnambulists. There are some of 
them who seem to forget the notions they have acquired by reason 
and observation, as they retrograde by degrees towards the period 
when their minds were but as smooth tablets. 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 97 

present order, and will bring you acquainted with the 
source of pure and durable felicity, which nothing exter- 
nal, terrestrial, and transient, can impart. 

The species of somnambulism which I have just de- 
scribed is extremely rare, and many persons will think 
that, in a work designed to teach the use of magnetism, 
I ought to have abstained from speaking of it, because 
there is little probability of its being presented to my 
readers. To this I answer, that, if this state is rare, it is 
our own fault ; it doubtless supposes an unusual develope- 
ment of the soul's faculties; but this developement fre- 
quently takes place, and nearly all those who have prac- 
tised magnetism have had it more or less in their power to 
observe it. If it has not been attended with that pure 
lucidity of which I have seen examples, it is because they 
have disturbed or turned aside the natural tendency. I 
am persuaded that, out of ten somnambulists, who, left to 
themselves, would reach this state, nine have been thrust 
into a false direction. Their astonishing faculties have 
then made them run over a thousand paths in the vast do- 
main of the imagination. Hence it has resulted that, 
among those who have had opportunity to see this extra- 
ordinary somnambulism, some have regarded it as the 
result of a communication with spirits ; some, as a gift of 
prophecy ; others, as the effect of the soul's exaltation ; 
others, again, as a transient insanity. Sometimes we per- 
ceive in it illusions of the strangest kind, without any real 
foundation ; sometimes a mixture of superstitious notions 
with very astonishing previsions ; sometimes metaphoric 
language and incoherent images ; and people have formed 
various judgments of this state, according as they were 
most struck with what was presented of light and truth, 
or of darkness and illusion. Nothing of this would have 
existed, if the somnambulist had been well directed, or, 
rather, if he had not been led astray by the ignorance, the 
vanity, the curiosity, of his magnetizer ; if the natural chain 
of his ideas had not been interrupted, to occupy him in 
subjects which were absolutely alien to him. 

The greater part of my readers will, without doubt, 
judge that I labor under an illusion in relation to the phe- 
nomena of which I have just given an account ; and I 
ought the more to expect it, because I would not myself 
9 



98 OP SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V. 

believe until I had been an eye-witness. I did not per- 
ceive their reality till very late, and long after I had pub- 
lished ray Critical History ; but then they were fre- 
quently renewed before my eyes, and I am well convinced 
that I should have seen them sooner, if I had conducted 
myself with more singleness of purpose. Those who will 
follow the instructions I have given will have the same 
happiness that I have had; and this consideration alone 
has determined me to give them precautions, by taking 
which they will profit by the favorable circumstances, and 
not let slip an opportunity which does not occur when we 
search for it, but which we may seize when it comes in 
our way. 

I ought, further, to mention that this state is rarely much 
prolonged; and that the magnetizer has no power what- 
ever to reproduce it, when it has ceased to manifest itself. 
When the somnambulist has told you what he deemed im- 
portant to tell you, his clairvoyance ceases, or at least is 
no longer engaged upon things of the same nature. You 
must profit by the moment. 

I do not pretend in any manner to discover the causes 
of the phenomena about which I have spoken. Every one 
can explain them as he chooses. The wisest way is not to 
search for an explanation. For in our waking state we 
can very well recognize, by the effects, the existence of a 
new faculty in somnambulists ; but we can no more deter- 
mine the nature of it, than they who are blind from birth 
can conceive the phenomena of vision. 

Perhaps some one will ask of me, whether the somnam- 
bulists of whom I speak could not give us some light on 
the dogmas of religion, on the choice between the various 
forms of worship, and on certain questions which have 
unhappily divided mankind. I can merely answer that I 
do not believe they can. But it is too essential an object 
to forewarn my readers against a curiosity always useless 
and often dangerous, for me to neglect adding some obser- 
vations in this place to the principles I have already laid 
down. These details will also serve to make them the 
more easily distinguish the species of somnambulism to 
which I have called their attention. 

I have said that the somnambulist is illuminated by a 
light which our spirit received from God when it received 



GHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 9$ 

its existence. This light, anterior to human education, 
shows to man that which is the foundation of all religion, 
as the conscience unveils to him that which is the foun- 
dation of all morals ; but it teaches him revealed dogmas 
no more than it does positive laws. 

What are the truths which are shown with evidence to 
the somnambulist 1 The existence, the omnipotence, the 
bounty, of the Creator ; the immortality of the soul ; the 
certainty of another life ; the recompense of the good, the 
punishment of the evil, which we have done in this ; Provi- 
dence, the necessity and efficacy of prayer, the preemi- 
nence of charity over the other virtues ; to which is joined 
the consoling idea that those who have preceded us on 
earth, and who have merited the enjoyment of eternal hap- 
piness, hear our wishes, take an interest in us, and may be 
our intercessors before God; the profound conviction that 
God never refuses to enlighten us in what we ought to 
know, when, submitted to his will, we ask aid of him; the 
firm persuasion of the utility of worship, which, by uniting 
men to render homage to God, prescribes rules and prac- 
tice to all, by which they pray in concert to obtain the 
blessings of Heaven. These are the ideas common to all 
religious somnambulists. They go not beyond that, which 
is to urge you, in a general manner, to fulfil the duties 
which religion imposes upon you. But, when you are once 
imbued with these principles, will you fail to have the 
means of instruction, to know what you ought to believe 
and what you ought to practise? 

" But," says some one, " I would like very much to in- 
terrogate my somnambulist, and profit by his knowledge, 
to dissipate this or that doubt, to answer this or that ob- 
jection." You will gain nothing ; you will even lose the 
advantages which you might derive from his lucidity. It 
is very possible that you could make him speak upon all 
the subjects of your indiscreet curiosity ; but in that case, 
as I have already warned you, you will make him leave his 
own sphere to introduce him into yours. He will no 
longer have any other resources than yourself. He will 
utter to you very eloquent discourses, but they will no 
more be dictated by the internal inspirations. They will 
be the product of his recollections, or of his imagination ; 
perhaps you will also rouse his vanity, and then all is lost ; 



100 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. Y, 

he will not reenter the circle from which he has wandered, 
And how can you suppose that a light which is innate in 
all men should throw its rays beyond that of revelation 1 
Is it not enough that it brings us to recognize the advan- 
tages of this revelation? If you are in an obscure laby- 
rinth, your guide makes use of his torch ; but as soon as 
he has conducted you to the place where the light of the 
sun is shining, his torch is useless. If, in embarrassing 
circumstances, you have to decide between different duties, 
your somnambulist may enlighten you ; but if you say to 
him, "Is it permitted me to avoid paying such a tax?" he 
will merely answer, " Consult the laws." 

I know very well that somnambulists have been, and are 
now, known to discourse about religion, and even about the 
social organization ; but they do not resemble those of 
whom I have just spoken : the imagination controlling all 
their other faculties, their manner of utterance, and the 
expression of their features, stamp them as enthusiasts. 
The two states cannot be confounded, if you will but con- 
form to the rules I have given. Moreover, these somnam- 
bulists are evidently influenced by the persons who sur- 
round them, by the circumstances in which they are 
placed. The errors to which they are subject, the illu- 
sions of which they are the sport, the extravagances which 
they utter, result from a nervous excitement which they 
would never have experienced, if the faculties had been 
naturally developed, in silence, solitude, and freedom from 
external influence.* 



* I have said that the somnambulist, when arrived at the highest 
degree of concentration, sometimes imagines himself to be inspired ; 
but he can impart no idea of the beings to whom he thinks he owes 
this inspiration. When a somnambulist has visions, they ought to 
be considered as phantoms, like those which are witnessed in dreams. 
Bodies only have forms. If spirits could communicate with us, it 
would be by exerting an immediate influence upon our souls. Soc^ 
rates, who believed himself inspired by a good genius, affirmed that 
we could no more see it than any thing else which is divine. (See 
Plutarch ; the Demon of Socrates, section 35.) He said that we could 
have an internal voice, because thought is manifested to us only by 
language. 

In somnambulism, the sensibility which is proper to the organs of 
the internal life is exalted ; from the latent state in which it is, it be- 
comes perceptible ; and these organs are then the instruments of ou? 
soul, as Doctor Bertrand has very well stated it, in his Treatise oa 



CHAP. V.J AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 101 

Many enlightened men, among those who are engaged in 
physiology, and who have some notion of the phenomena 
of magnetism, will not fail to affirm that the state which I 
have described is only one of the varieties of ordinary 
somnambulism, which differs from others in the concen- 
tration of mind upon religious ideas, and that this does not 
prove any thing to establish the truth of the opinions held 
by those who enter into that state. I will not discuss this 
question, because it is not the design of this work to 
inquire into the nature of the magnetic phenomena, nor to 
prove the truth of the notions they impart to us. I have 
merely intended to point out how the peculiar state which 
I have made known, ought to be observed when it occurs, 
and what line of conduct ought to be pursued so as not to 
trouble or change its direction. Those who see it as I 
have, and take the proper precautions, will soon decide for 
themselves as to the degree of confidence to be placed in it. 
I wished to teach the mode of avoiding the errors spring- 
ing from ourselves ; but I do not pretend to point out the 
sure characteristics of truth. I have told when and how 
the facts might be observed; but it is for each one to draw 
from these facts, by the use of his own reason, the conse- 
quences which appear to him the most probable and the 
best founded. I will merely call attention to the fact, that 
the doctrine which somnambulists, in the highest state of 
concentration and abstraction, (isolement,) have laid down, 
is as far removed from mysticism as from materialism, as 
much opposed to intolerance as to incredulity; that it 
makes no innovations, and merely confirms opinions ut- 
tered at all times by some of the sages; that, far from pro- 
scribing philosophy, it brings it into accordance with 
religion ; finally, that, whether it be regarded as the 
product of the imagination, or as inspired by the internal 
sentiment, we are forced to agree that the consequences 
flowing from it inspire a high idea of the dignity of man, 

Somnambulism. But this new mode of perception may lead us into 
error, as does that which we enjoy in the ordinary state. It is then 
important to distinguish what appertains to the natural develope- 
ment of the intellectual faculties, and the notions furnished by the 
new instruments, from what may be produced by the imagination, 
or by a foreign influence. I have endeavored to impart the means 
to avoid confounding these two classes of phenomena. 
9* 



102 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V, 

favor the happiness of individuals, and tend to establish 
peace and harmony in society. It is pleasant, it is de- 
lightful, to have one more reason for expecting another 
life, to believe that Providence watches over us, that our 
afflictions, supported with resignation, will have a recom- 
pense; that all men, the children of a common parent, 
ought to be united by the bonds of charity ; that those who 
have preceded us on earth hear our wishes, and take an 
interest in us ; and that the good will one day be united in 
a communion of sentiments and enjoyments, where the 
delights of pure affection, and the torch of truth unob- 
scured, will crown the desires of our souls, which were 
created for knowledge and love. 

Among the men who are engaged in magnetism, there 
are, unhappily, some materialists. I cannot conceive how 
it is that some of the phenomena of which they have been 
witnesses, such as the power of seeing at a distance, pre- 
vision, the action of the will, the communication of thought 
without the aid of external signs, have not appeared to 
them sufficient proofs of the spirituality of the soul. But y 
finally, their opinion is opposite to mine ; they are sincere, 
because they have no object in sustaining it; they are 
better instructed than I am in the physical sciences ; my 
arguments cannot change their manner of seeing, and I 
should be very presumptuous if I flattered myself with the 
idea of overcoming them in the warfare of opposition. 
Well persuaded that they are in error, I ought to wish for 
new phenomena to enlighten their minds. Perhaps, if they 
had observed the developement of somnambulism,, in all its 
simplicity; if they had exercised no influence over their 
somnambulists ; if they had not excited their imagination 
or their vanity in requiring extraordinary things of them ; 
if they had left them to the natural order of their ideas, — 
they would have obtained results altogether different. I 
invite them to follow the path I have traced out. It is 
an experiment worthy of their sagacity, as it is of their 
courageous frankness, to retract their first opinions, if 
they are ever convinced of their having embraced an error. 

In relation to the employment of magnetism, and the 
management of somnambulism, I believe I have given all 
the directions necessary to persons who are not already 
enlightened by experience. It all consists in having but 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 103 

a single end in view — that of rendering service, of devoting 
yourself to the patient whose treatment you undertake, to 
make an entire sacrifice of personal considerations, to free 
yourself from all self-interest, from all vanity, from all 
curiosity; but, I must confess, the requisition is severe. 
He who, by the desire of the family, and with the consent 
of the physician, has taken charge of the treatment of a 
dangerous disease, ought to abstain from all other labor, 
except what the duties of his condition impose ; to be in- 
different to the pleasantries of worldly men ; to be silent in 
regard to the phenomena he witnesses; to renounce almost 
all diversions; to avoid that which may cause lively emo- 
tions; to husband his strength habitually, so as to employ it, 
when it is required, without the fear of fatigue ; finally, to 
occupy himself continually about the patient who has 
placed in him his confidence, and to consider him as the 
counterpart of himself. 

What shall indemnify him for so much pains, for so 
many sacrifices 1 The satisfaction of having done good, 
There is nothing beyond such enjoyment. If the services 
you have rendered are soon forgotten, — if you are exposed 
to pleasantry, to ridicule, and even to the accusation of 
charlatanry, — you will remember that you have God as the 
witness of your actions, and that you are happy enough in 
having Him as the only one who deigns to charge him- 
self with your reward. 

After what has been said, it may be seen that the prac- 
tice of magnetism requires the possession of rare qualities, 
and that the love of doing good should be the sole motive 
for engaging in it. It is also evident that great prudence 
should be exercised in the choice of a magnetizer, 



NOTE I. 

I have stated that somnambulists do not every day exhibit the 
same degree of clairvoyance ; but I forgot to mention that they 
sometimes lose it in respect to this or that patient with whom 
they have long been in communication, while at the same time 
they show a great deal of it in relation to others. This anomaly 
is singular ; but I have, unfortunately, seen many instances of it, 
I will explain. 



104 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. V. 

In severe chronic diseases, it happens very frequently that, at 
the first consultation, the somnambulist sees, in an astonishing 
manner, the anterior state, and the actual state, of the patient 
He points out the remedies which first produce alleviation, and, 
some days after, such an amelioration as to make us consider the 
cure as certain. Every thing he tells is realized, and our confi- 
dence appears to be well founded. But in the sequel, the condi- 
tion of the patient changes. He grows worse. The somnam- 
bulist continues to prescribe remedies which do not produce the 
intended effects. He no longer judges by instinct, by intuition^ 
He conjectures ; he gropes in the dark ; he seeks to remedy the 
accidents which he had not foreseen ; and we find too late that 
we should not have depended upon him blindly. 

It is expedient, then, to conduct ourselves with the same pru- 
dence, and the same circumspection, during the whole continu- 
ance of the treatment ; and we ought not to persuade ourselves 
that the somnambulist will commit no mistakes in the second or 
the third month, because he saw well, and perfectly succeeded, 
during the first days. As soon as the somnambulist ceases to 
announce beforehand, with exactitude, the effects of his remedies, 
and the crises which occur, we ought no longer to place depend- 
ence on him. It is entirely futile to ask the somnambulist for an 
explanation of what has befallen him. The greater part of the 
time, he is not in condition to give it ; but he ought never to make 
a mistake in the announcement of the effects which will occur. 
What I have now said applies more particularly to somnambulists 
by profession. A somnambulist who is charged with the cure 
of one or two patients, with whom he identifies himself, almost 
always preserves his clairvoyance unimpaired ; or, if he loses it, 
he perceives the loss, and gives notice of it. 



INTOTE II. 

The Treatise on Somnambulism published by Doctor Bertrand 
is the first work, ex professo, upon the subject, and the only on& 
in which it has been examined in its numerous relations. In this 
publication, we recognize a man profoundly versed in the study 
of medicine, physiology, and metaphysics. The author com- 
pares natural somnambulism to that which is exhibited in many 
diseases, to that which arises from the excitement of the imagi- 
nation, and to that which originates in the magnetic treatment : 
and he proves that they all present analogous phenomena, 
and are referable to the same cause. He also reduces to 
the natural order many facts which have been attributed to 
supernatural causes ; and he arrives at this highly important 
conclusion, that, if the world had at first known the phenom- 
ena of magnetic somnambulism, they would not have attrib-* 



CHAP. V.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 105 

uted to the devil those which the pretended sorcerers exhibited ; 
to a celestial inspiration, those which were witnessed among the 
prophets of Cevennes ; to the influence of Deacon Paris, those 
which were witnessed at Saint Medard. But he seems to me to 
make a mistake in what he says upon the action of magnetism, 
and upon the principles of that action. He has searched into 
physiology for the explanation of phenomena which depend upon 
a different law ; he has generalized the observations which were 
proper for his purpose ; and he regarded as illusions facts less 
surprising than the ones he has seen, when they did not accord 
with his theory. If he had been a witness of many of the facts 
which have passed under my eyes, — if he had examined the evi- 
dence in favor of most of those which have been reported by 
enlightened men, — he would not have thrown aside what he calls 
the pretensions of the magnetizers. 

I would not have permitted myself to make critical observa- 
tions upon this work, if I had not judged it sufficiently instructive 
and important to make it a duty to advise the reading of it. 

I would also add that M. Bertrand, though he is not endowed 
with great physical energy, has cured by magnetism very severe 
and very inveterate nervous diseases. This does not in any de- 
gree demonstrate the truth of his ingenious theory, but it proves 
that he possesses many of the qualities which constitute a good 
magnetizer. 



106 



CHAPTER VI. 

OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE OF A MAGNETIZER; 



Of the Precautions to be taken by Patients who wish to be magnet- 
ized, in Regard to the Choice of a Magnetizer, and the Success 
of the Treatment. 

After having pointed out, to those who wish to practise 
magnetism, the principles which ought to direct them, the 
processes they ought at first to employ, and the conduct to 
be pursued in case somnambulism occurs, I think it also 
my duty to give advice to persons who, being ill, wish to 
try magnetism for the recovery of their health, and who do 
not know in their own society any person in whom they 
have an entire confidence. 

It is unnecessary for me to observe that, in slight and re- 
cent injuries, such as a bruise, exposure to the air, a head- 
ache, pains in the stomach, and, briefly, all those which do 
not require a treatment prolonged for many days, you may 
dispense with the precautions I am about to indicate. 

Look out, in your own family, or among your friends, 
for some one, who* if he is not convinced of the reality of 
magnetism, may be at least disposed to believe in it, from 
the testimony of those who have seen its effects, and from 
the desire of having in himself the means of soothing the 
distresses of his fellow-men, and who joins to this dis- 
position of mind physical and moral qualities essential for 
magnetizers ; that is to say, good health, discretion, the love- 
of good, a character tranquil and firm, and having leisure 
to give you the attendance requisite for your restoration. 

It is always of great advantage to have a magnetizer in; 
your own family ; the ties of blood contribute, by a physi- 
cal sympathy, to establish a communication. The confi- 
dence and friendship which exist between a husband and 
his wife, between a mother and her daughter, and between. 



CHAP. VI.] CHOICE OF A MAGNETIZER. 107 

near relations, have already produced that affection and 
that devotedness which ought to unite the magnetizer to 
the somnambulist, and which authorize the continuance of 
these sentiments when the treatment has ceased. 

I have said that women ought to be preferred to magnet- 
ize women : I say more ; it is that (leaving out the case 
where plain good sense declares it a matter of indifference) 
they alone ought to be charged with it. The reasons are 
these : — 

1st. It is clear that the magnetic processes never pre- 
sent the least embarrassment to persons of the same sex, 
and when a man magnetizes a woman, he is obliged to be 
attentive lest any of the processes wound decency, or the 
common usages of life. A man, for example, cannot place 
himself opposite to a woman and fix his eyes upon her ; if 
any crisis occurs, he is obliged to call on a woman for the 
purpose of administering to her wants. 

2d. When magnetism is accompanied with somnambu- 
lism, it generally imparts to the somnambulist a very lively 
affection for her magnetizer ; and this affection continues 
in the wakeful state, even after the treatment is at an end. 
I know very well that this attachment is of the same kind 
as that which we feel for near relations, and implies no 
idea injurious to the best sentiments. But it is contrary 
to all propriety, that a young woman should have a very 
lively friendship for any other than her father, her uncles, 
or her brothers. If she has this sentiment, she is obliged 
to moderate it, and especially not to express it, if she re- 
gards propriety. 

3d. Chronic diseases are sometimes attended with symp- 
toms in regard to which modesty compels silence, and 
about which even a physician is obliged to conjecture, for 
the want of being informed. They often spring from 
secret chagrin, mental troubles, constrained feelings, &c. 
The somnambulist has, and ought to have, an entire confi- 
dence in her magnetizer ; but as she does not lose the 
sense of propriety, there are many things about which a 
woman in that state will not dare to speak to a man. 
There are also many questions which a man cannot ask of 
a woman, much advice that he cannot give her, many par- 
ticulars of which he cannot discourse. 

4th. Finally, magnetism sometimes produces, in nervous 



108 OP PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. VI. 

diseases, spasmodic movements, and other crises, of which 
it is not proper for a man to be a witness, and in which he 
cannot employ the processes best calculated to soothe them. 

Thus they who have said that, to avoid all the inconve- 
niences of magnetism between persons of different sexes, it 
suffices that both the magnetizer and the magnetized pos- 
sess an honesty and delicacy above all suspicion, have not 
considered the thing in its true point of view. All I have 
now said is without allusion to the fear that magnetism will 
create sentiments or attachments which morality forbids.* 

All other things being equal, the best magnetizer for a 
woman is her husband ; for a husband, his wife ; for a 
young lady, her sister or her mother. 

One other consideration makes it desirable that a woman 
should find a magnetizer in her own family, or among the 
friends she most frequently sees, and with whom she is 

* I owe several of these reflections to Madame Chambon de Mon- 
taux, who, by practising magnetism after the instructions that I 
have given her, has obtained such success as her ardent charity 
merited. M. Chambon de Montaux was, in 1784, one of the doctors 
of the faculty who pronounced against magnetism. He had then 
seen nothing. I showed him some facts, and his old prejudices did 
not prevent him from yielding to the evidence. His wife has many 
times aided him in saving patients for whom the resources of his 
art appeared to him insufficient. 

Unhappily Madame de Montaux is of delicate health, her physical 
powers do not correspond with her moral energy, and the practice 
of magnetism causes a fatigue which she is always too late in per- 
ceiving. After a treatment of a malignant fever, which she had 
cured, by joining, at the request of her husband, magnetism to me- 
dicinal remedies, I have seen her so ill that she could hardly have 
been* restored without being herself magnetized. One very extraor- 
dinary thing, which I cannot account for, is, that she commonly 
takes the disease of the person she magnetizes ; not that the cause 
of the disease passes to her, but that she has, for several days, the 
sensation and symptoms of it. I have seen an instance of it in an 
attack of the gout, and in an ophthalmia, which are not contagious 
diseases. 

By reflecting upon the effects she has produced, and on those she 
has experienced, Madame de Montaux has discovered of herself the 
principles of magnetism ; and she has drawn from them the most 
useful results. She has written down her observations, and shown 
me her manuscript, by which I have profited. I have there found 
very just remarks, singleness of purpose, and, above all, the love of 
order, and a zeal for good. It is the same character which has been 
observed in the work she published under the title of " Moral and 
Political Reflections upon the Advantages of Monarchy." 



CHAP. VI.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 109 

most intimately connected. The motives I am going to 
mention will no longer exist when the practice shall be 
generally spread, and when physicians shall advise the 
use of it; but in the actual state of things, they are 
important.* 

It is almost impossible, especially in a small town, for a 
man to come each day and pass an hour with a woman, 
without people's perceiving it, and discovering the reason. 
Then inquisitive persons ask the magnetizer many ques- 
tions which embarrass him ; and, if the disease be not a 
very severe one, the incredulous will indulge in ill-placed 
pleasantries. Indiscreet persons will talk to the patient 
about the method she has chosen to pursue, and give her 
inquietude. A woman does not like to draw observation. 
Those who surround her, and who approve the use of 
magnetism, have much trouble in preventing her from 
experiencing some inconveniences. Doubtless there ought 
to be no mystery in the practice of magnetism ; but it is 
useless to speak of it to those who do not believe in its 
reality. 

As soon as you have chosen a person in whom you are 
willing to place confidence, and he has consented to 
bestow care upon you, you will entreat him to read this 
little work attentively. If, after having read it, he adopts 
its principles, and continues willing to render you the 
service you require, you will entreat him to speak of it to 
no one except to those of your friends to whom you can 
impart a secret, in order to avoid the talk of the incred- 
ulous, and especially the solicitations of the curious, who 
may desire to assist at the sittings. You will arrange 
things so as to fix upon an hour convenient for him and 
for you ; because a treatment once commenced should 
never be interrupted. 

When you have made an agreement with him, and he 
has given you his word not to try any experiments upon 
you through curiosity, but to act solely for your resto- 
ration, you will abandon yourself to him with entire confi- 
dence, and, as you are sure of his discretion, you will 



* The reader should bear in mind that these observations were 
written twelve years ago. A great change has since taken place in 
the opinions of men of science in regard to this subject. — Trans. 

10 



110 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. VT» 

conceal from him nothing which relates to the cause of 
your disease. 

If you have already taken remedies^ and have a physi- 
cian, you will impart to him your determination, requesting 
him to keep it a secret. Entreat him to consent to your 
employing magnetism as auxiliary to medicine. I do not 
doubt, that, even when the physician looks upon magnetism 
as a chimera, and attributes all its effects to the imagi- 
nation, he will consent to observe, from time to time, the 
changes which this new agent works in you ; to combine 
and modify, consequently, the remedies he prescribes, and 
even to suspend the use of those which do not appear to 
him absolutely necessary, in order to judge better of the 
influence of the new means you wish to try. 

It is essential to inform your physician of the intention 
you have formed; because he may attribute the crises 
which magnetism may produce to the prescriptions he 
has himself administered. 

In severe maladies, the action of magnetism is often in- 
sufficient ; it must be aided by medicine, which the physi- 
cian alone can prescribe. Magnetism sometimes produces 
an effect similar to what we desire of a medicine, which 
then becomes useless. For instance, you wish to admin- 
ister an emetic at six o'clock in the morning ; you will 
magnetize at five o'clock ; the effect takes place without 
giving medicine. Some have prescribed opium at night, 
to lessen sharp pains and restore sleep ; after the magnetic 
sitting, the pains have ceased, the patient sleeps peaceably, 
and you do not give him the opium prescribed. You do 
right ; but would not the physician have cause to be in- 
jured in his feelings, if you did not let him know that you 
did not obey his orders, and if you make a mystery of the 
motives which have influenced you? 

In case of lucid somnambulism, the advice of the physi- 
cian is no longer necessary ; but it is no more than right 
to inform him of the phenomena you have obtained; and 
it is even your duty to give him an opportunity to be en- 
lightened upon the effects of magnetism, so that he may, 
as occasion requires, connect with it the resources which 
study and experience have rendered familiar to him. 

I have now pointed out the resolutions and the measures 
which ought to be taken before commencing a treatment : 



CHAP. VI.] OF A MAGNETIZER. Ill 

we will now see how we ought to conduct ourselves when 
the treatment is commenced. 

If you are put asleep, and your magnetizer prescribes 
remedies for you, you will follow them with entire security, 
observing his directions exactly, without asking the reason. 
He will not prescribe remedies, until he has made you 
become a somnambulist, and satisfied himself that your 
somnambulism is accompanied with clairvoyance. This is 
a subject on which you ought not, by any means, to concern 
yourself until after your restoration. You will not be in 
the least alarmed at any crisis or transient indisposition, 
and you will mention them unreservedly to your mag- 
netizer. 

If you do not sleep, one of these three things will occur: 
you will feel no effects, you will experience either relief or 
some one of the encouraging effects I have described, or 
you will grow worse. 

In the first case, you will try nearly a month ; in the 
second case, you will continue with patience so long as 
your magnetizer is not wearied; in the third case, which 
is very rare, you will renounce magnetism after some days, 
to make use of ordinary medicine. 

But it requires careful attention before you can say, with 
certainty, that the disease is rendered worse. A person 
might be deceived by appearances, and renounce magnet- 
ism at the moment when it is on the point of doing the 
most good, A physician who has studied and practised 
magnetism would assuredly not err in regard to the nature 
and the consequences of the effects it produces ; but such 
a physician is not readily found. I am going to make 
some observations, from which a person might form a judg- 
ment according to circumstances, and conduct himself 
with all possible prudence, without being disturbed by ill- 
founded fears. 

In describing the effects by which magnetism manifests 
its action, I have said that it frequently brings on very 
sharp pains. These pains prove that it acts powerfully; 
they are necessary to subdue the disease. If, then, you 
experience sufferings, you will have the fortitude to bear 
them, without speaking of them to any one. You will 
regard them as the proof of a salutary action ; you will not 
£ven ask your magnetizer to calm them. If you have not 



112 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. VI. 

beforehand taken the firm resolution of resisting the first 
pains that it causes you to feel, — if your magnetizer has not 
confidence and force of character enough not to be alarmed 
about them, — it would be better for you not to commence. 
The impression first made, being no longer sustained and 
regulated, becomes injurious. 

I acknowledge that magnetism has been known to excite 
a nervous irritation and an uneasiness, which continue 
after the sittings, without being followed by any crisis; and 
there is cause to suppose the fluid of the magnetizer 
unsuitable. But this irritation and this uneasiness do not 
resemble the pains of which I speak, nor the convulsions 
which occur in nervous diseases, and which the magnet- 
izer can always quiet. 

In the succeeding chapter, when I shall treat of the 
application of magnetism to various complaints, I shall 
enter into a more particular examination of the circum- 
stances in which it is proper to suspend the use of it. 

During the continuance of the magnetic treatment, you 
should be careful to follow a mild regimen, to avoid ex- 
cesses of all kinds, watchings, fatigue of body and of mind; 
and all that can excite lively emotions and trouble the 
tranquillity of the spirit. You should make use of mag- 
netized water, so long as you can without exciting the 
attention of others. 

If you experience a considerable amelioration in your 
health, and people of your acquaintance take notice of it, 
do not, on that account, tell them the means you are 
employing; wait until your restoration is sufficiently ad- 
vanced, so that no doubt may exist in relation to the effica- 
ciousness of magnetism. 

It is as useful as it is consoling, to flatter ourselves that 
we shall obtain a complete cure; but we are far from 
always arriving at this result. In long-seated maladies, it 
frequently happens that a person, at first, is conscious of 
an improvement of health, which continues, but does not 
increase ; then, after several months of treatment, he may 
cease being magnetized every day, withdraw himself 
gradually from the sittings, and finish by having recourse 
to magnetism only when he feels a renewal of the pain, 
which may be easily dissipated. 

Avoid being magnetized when it is no longer necessary. 



CHAP. VI.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 113 

If you continue after being cured, or even after having 
obtained from magnetism all the good it can effect, you 
will become habituated to it; and this is a great incon- 
venience to persons sensible to its action, and especially to 
those who are susceptible of somnambulism. 

Although magnetism consists in the influence exercised 
by one individual over another, many magnetizers think 
that one can magnetize himself; it is true — but only in 
regard to certain persons and to certain cases. 

When a man, in the habit of magnetizing, has a local 
pain, for example, in the arm, the leg, or the stomach, he 
can dissipate or relieve it, by attentively employing upon 
himself the magnetic processes. But to do this, he must 
be in good health. When a person has a general disease, 
a fever, or an organic aifection, it is plain that he cannot 
draw the remedy from himself, since the fluid of which he 
makes use has no longer the necessary qualities. 

Among the persons who have been magnetized many 
times, there are some who can, of their own accord, throw 
themselves into the magnetic state. I think it a faculty 
they ought never to employ ; because, by exercising it, they 
acquire the habit of concentration, which may fatigue the 
nervous system, and become very injurious, as we shall say 
when we come to speak of the dangers of magnetism. 

I think I ought not to finish this chapter without answer- 
ing a question often addressed to me. 

In the present state of things, say some persons, mag- 
netism is so little known, that many patients cannot find, 
either in their family or among their friends, any one who 
can or who is willing to magnetize them. Among those 
to whom one would voluntarily make application, some are 
incredulous; others believe in the reality of the agent, but 
not in their own power ; others lack leisure ; others have 
not the physical condition and the health necessary to 
follow up a treatment. Many physicians have confidence 
in magnetism, but the occupations of very few permit them 
to practise it. Can we not obtain a magnetizer for whose 
cares we could be grateful, and whom we could recom- 
pense for the sacrifice of time 1 

To this I answer, there are at Paris many persons en- 
tirely devoted to the practice of magnetism, and who, when 
they are not already charged with the cure of many pa- 
10* 



114 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. VI. 

tients, are ready to visit those who give them a call. 
Among these, there are some who have much experience, 
who are endowed with the most happy faculties, and who 
form a lively attachment for the persons of whom they 
undertake the charge. I know some of them, who per- 
ceive the seat of the disease, and modify their action 
accordingly. I know some of them, who pass into a sort 
of demi-somnambulism, during which they magnetize with 
much discernment and efficaciousness. The persons of 
whom I speak have not chosen the exercise of magnetism 
as a lucrative profession. After they themselves have been 
cured by it, they have endeavored to render service to their 
friends ; and they who have witnessed their success have 
engaged them to continue it. Thus obliged to renounce 
every other means of subsistence, it is very necessary for 
them to find a livelihood in their new occupation. 

But it is not enough that any one is known to practise 
magnetism, to induce us to make application to him. It 
is proper, in the first place, to find out whether he really 
has, independently of all interested motives, a decided 
inclination for the practice ; whether he has any instinctive 
faculties; whether he possesses the moral qualities desirable 
in a friend ; whether he is not already engaged in taking 
charge of many patients; whether he is not devoted to 
other occupations, which distract his attention. Sup- 
posing we are satisfied in all these respects, we might have 
recourse to him to try his influence beforehand, and after- 
wards to put ourselves wholly under his care, if we re- 
ceive benefit, and if the physician who approved having 
recourse to magnetism decides that it produces salutary 
effects. 

Then the person to be magnetized should look upon the 
magnetizer as a friend, and treat him as such ; for if they 
have no affection for each other, it is impossible to establish 
a perfect communication. Although the magnetizer re- 
ceives fees, just as a surgeon would when he has come to 
dress a wound, he should not be moved by this motive, 
but by the desire of doing good ; and although the patient 
pays for the service, he ought not to show himself less sen- 
sible of the care bestowed upon him. The relation may 
cease at the termination of the treatment ; but, so long as 
it lasts, they ought to be in confidence and friendship. If 



CHAP. VI.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 115 

the patient becomes a somnambulist, he should have near 
him a relation or a friend, who will take note of what he 
says in the somnambulic state, and who will apply to a 
physician to know what is to be thought of his clairvoy- 
ance. No other witness should be admitted to the sittings 
than the one first chosen. The magnetizer, on his part, 
should agree never to mention any of the phenomena which 
take place during the treatment, provided he is not freely 
authorized to do it ; but when the treatment is at an end, 
he might publish those of them whose publication might 
be useful, observing the precaution of suppressing the 
names, and of concealing the circumstances which might 
designate them. 

What I have said of the communication established by 
magnetism between the operator and the recipient, and of 
the influence temporarily exercised by the former over the 
latter, shows clearly enough that, in the present state of 
society, it would almost always be inconvenient for a man 
to be magnetized by his domestic. That can be done 
when he has an entire confidence in, as well as friendship 
for, his domestic, and the domestic entertains towards his 
master the affection, the respect, and the devotedness, that 
he would have towards a father.* It is not unfrequent 
that a waiting woman magnetizes her mistress with as 
much zeal as intelligence, without overvaluing herself on 
account of the good she does her. 

* M. le Marquis de Puysegur has had for forty-five years in his 
service a valet de chambrc by the name of Ribault, who takes his 
place in his magnetic treatment, and who, in concert with him, has 
accomplished surprising cures. He has magnetized the marquis 
with as much success as zeal, in several severe indispositions. He 
is an excellent man. Being instructed and perfectly convinced by 
seeing his master magnetize, he magnetizes with much calmness and 
energy, without searching into the reason of the effects that he pro- 
duces. M. de Puysegur thus expresses himself on this subject, in a 
note to the work which he published in 1811 : " This clever man is 
the same that I had for an assistant magnetizer in 1784 and 1785, 
and of whom I speak in my memoirs of that period. His attachment 
to me for more than thirty years, the esteem and friendship which I 
have for him, establish between us that unison of intention and 
of will which is known to be so necessary for the unity of the mag- 
netic action." 

It is unnecessary to observe that this note is as honorable to him 
who wrote it as to him who is the subject of it. Why are not such 
examples more frequent ? 



116 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. VI. 

I have many times seen domestics, who had become som- 
nambulists, magnetize exceedingly well while they were in 
the somnambulic state. It is a great advantage to have 
near one a somnambulist to whom we may have recourse; 
but, whatever gratitude we entertain towards him, we ought 
as much as possible to conceal from him the fact that he is 
a somnambulist. It is especially important not to let him 
suspect that he magnetizes while in the somnambulic 
state. 



NOTE. 

There exists with some individuals a magnetic power truly 
prodigious, of which I do not pretend to know the cause, but of 
which I think it my duty to say a word ; first, to request those 
who are naturally endowed with it, to use it without ostentation, 
without endeavoring to produce astonishing effects, but with 
simplicity, with prudence, and solely with a view to do good ; 
secondly, in order that, under certain circumstances, people may 
apply to persons of whom they have heard marvellous cures related ; 
thirdly, in order that they may be well satisfied of the circum- 
scribed and limited nature of the power to which I refer ; so that 
he who can perform certain things, will not succeed in obtaining 
effects less surprising, which are not of the same kind. 

For instance, many magnetizers induce somnambulism with very 
great facility, and do not hope for success except from this crisis, 
while others scarcely can effect it, yet do not do the less good. 
Some of them cure certain diseases only ; others soothe or cure 
indifferently all that are curable. Some of them act only by the 
will, without any apparent magnetic process ; and they can even 
exert this action at a distance : they put themselves in communi- 
cation with the patient who applies to them, by uniting intention 
with him, and by the interchange of thoughts and sentiments. 
Finally, magnetizers have been known, who, possessing an ex- 
traordinary power, make no use of it except to produce astonish- 
ing phenomena without any utility. These last expose magnet- 
ism to ridicule; they drive wise men from the subject; they 
furnish arms to those who consider it dangerous. I cannot too 
much persuade persons attached to the good doctrine never to 
go and see these curious experiments ; they will derive no in- 
struction from them, and they will have reason to reproach them- 
selves with having, in some degree, authorized them by their 
presence. 

To give an idea of the special faculties with which some mag- 
netizers are endowed, and of the use they should make of them, I 



CHAP. VI.] OP A MAGNETIZER. 117 

will relate succinctly what determined me to reflect on this 
subject. 

Last year I had occasion to form an acquaintance with M. le 
Compte de G # **s, and he has become a friend of mine. He 
communicated to me his observations, and gave me a chance to 
witness many facts, which proved to me how much his power 
excels that of most magnetizers. Such are these of which I am 
going to give an account. 

1st A young woman suffered much from an obstruction pecu- 
liar to her sex, which had existed for several years. She made 
use, without success, of medicinal remedies, of such as were indi- 
cated by somnambulists, and she had been magnetized by several 
persons. M. de G # * # s having been entreated one day to mag- 
netize her, he did it with all the energy of which he was capable ; 
and in an hour he obtained a crisis which they had in vain at- 
tempted to produce, and which was necessary for the reestablish 
ment of her health. 

2d. A very clairvoyant somnambulist was suddenly attacked 
with a burning fever, accompanied with delirium. She ex- 
perienced colics, vomitings, suffocating sensations, and severe 
pains in the head and in the loins. Her magnetizer could 
neither calm her nor throw her into somnambulism. While they 
were in the most lively alarm, he went to request M. de G** # s to 
come to his aid. Three hours of continued action sufficed to dis- 
sipate the fever and the pains, to bring on a tranquil sleep which 
lasted all night, and to reestablish her strength to such a degree 
that the next day the patient found herself in condition to come 
on foot to the Jardin dm IRni. to give me an account of her cure. 

3d. A woman, whose husband had cured her of several indis- 
positions by rendering her a somnambulist, and in whom he in- 
duced this crisis with the greatest ease, was run over by a car- 
riage, and received very severe contusions on the head and on 
the side : she was soon afflicted with violent pains, which her 
husband could not drive away. This state lasted three days, 
when one of his friends, who knewM. de G***s, prevailed upon him 
to try his skill. The patient soon entered into somnambulism ; 
but she declared she saw no remedy for her injuries. " There is," 
said she, " a swelling in my head, and magnetism only augments 
my sufferings." M. de G* ## s tried in vain to inspire her with 
confidence ; and it was in some sort against her will that he per- 
sisted for three hours in producing very painful crises, but of 
which he perceived the necessity. He finally succeeded in free- 
ing the head and the side. He restored her tranquillity, and she 
assured him there was no more danger, and that she owed her 
life to him. The next day he gave a second sitting, and became 
satisfied that the cure was complete. 

When M. de G***s assists at a somnambulic treatment which 
has for its object the restoration of the patient to health, he thinks 



118 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. VI. 

it would be indelicate in him to exert his influence otherwise 
than in subordination to that of the magnetizer. But if he sees 
that this magnetizer desires to try experiments contrary to the 
end of magnetism, he is capable of annihilating the action ; he 
need not even be present for this purpose ; provided he has once 
been put in communication, he acts, although he is in another 
apartment, and without the magnetizer or the somnambulist's 
having the least suspicion of it. 

We perceive that such a power would be dangerous in the 
hands of a man capable of abusing it ; but it would lose its ener- 
gy, if it were not moved principally by the love of doing good. 
M. de G # * # s, besides great physical force, possesses all the moral 
qualities which can render his action salutary ; and I would en- 
large upon this point, if be were not to read what I say of him. 
He succeeds very easily in producing somnambulism; but this 
is only when he wishes it ; and he magnetizes without bringing 
on this crisis, when he judges it necessary, and when he is not 
certain of being at liberty to continue the treatment. 

I will now give an account of faculties very different, but not 
less remarkable. 

M. N***, who holds an office in a little village not far from 
Paris, had no idea of magnetism, when, at the beginning of last 
year, he read the first volume of my Critical History. His son 
having then been ill for four years, he tried to magnetize him, 
and he cured him. His cook had rheumatic pains ; he dissipated 
them. The latter told several persons of her acquaintance, and 
very soon several patients came to request M. N ### to cure them ; 
he succeeded in doing it. - ■ 

The number of these patients soon became so considerable, 
that, not being able to treat them all with direct manipulation, he 
constructed a baquet, at which he finished by connecting a dozen 
or fifteen in the morning, and as many in the afternoon. He 
devoted some minutes to each one of them, to direct the fluid ; he 
soothed those who experienced crises, by taking them apart from 
the rest. But, notwithstanding the desire he had to accomplish 
it, he never produced complete somnambulism. Moreover, he 
went to the houses of the sick, who could not come out of doors. 

Things were thus when he came to find me, to tell me what 
he had done, and to ask my advice. Although he expressed him- 
self with the greatest simplicity, what he related appeared to me 
so extraordinary, that I desired to ascertain the facts. I went to 
pass two days with him at his house. I conversed with the 
patients whom he had cured, and with those who were under 
treatment. I advised him to substitute, for his baquet filled with 
water, a dry baquet, in which should be placed bottles filled with 
magnetized water ; and, three months after, I returned to pass 
three more days with him, to find out the results obtained since 
my first visit 



CHAP. VI.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 119 

I will not here relate the cures performed by this treatment ; it 
will suffice to say, that, among those subjected to it, many had 
inveterate disease's, which had resisted medicinal remedies, and 
that the small number of those who were not restored to perfect 
health were considerably relieved. 

But here is what may be considered as more remarkable. M. 
N*** is exempt from enthusiasm, and he exerts over his patients 
a moral influence which is congenial with the dispositions of his 
own spirit. All who place themselves round his baquet feel calm 
and agreeable sensations. Their imagination is never excited. 
They are attached to their magnetizer, and take an interest in 
each other. This influence is perceptible in their character and 
their habits. A woman one day said, " I did not dare to be alone at 
night ; I was afraid of thunder ; I was afraid of mice : now I fear 
nothing." "Neither do I," responded three or four at the same 
instant. 

Although there is no decided case of somnambulism, many of 
the patients are in a magnetic state, which struck my attention, 
and which M. N ### did not himself suspect : they see the 
magnetic fluid ; some of them even perceive the currents of it. 
When M. N ### magnetizes a glass filled with water, they see a 
luminous vapor enter the water ; and this water, which they drink 
with avidity, is for them an excellent remedy. Some of them 
perceive when M. N** # approaches ; and I have seen a child, 
eight years old, whom he used to magnetize at the house of his 
mother, indicate the moment when he left his apartment, and the 
path he had taken. M. N** # sometimes makes the relations 
supply his place with the patients ; and the confidence he inspires 
in those to whom he gives a few simple instructions enables 
them to succeed very well. 

We see that the action exercised by M. N ### differs greatly 
from what we have seen manifested in other magnetic treatments. 
He dissipated some slight affections in two or three minutes. It 
seems as though a curative fluid continually emanates from him, 
and as though he needs only to use a simple act of the will to 
direct it. If I had a friend seriously ill, I would advise him to 
address himself to this excellent man. 

Nevertheless, M. N** # has not great physical force, and the 
fatigue to which he has subjected himself has several times 
affected his health. He can see no one suffer without identifying 
himself with him, and devoting himself to his good service. 
More than forty patients owe their restoration to him. No person 
can suppose that any other motive than charity could have de- 
termined him to consecrate to the relief of the afflicted all his 
leisure time. Yet he has not been able to escape malicious in- 
sinuations. Some persons have endeavored to detach from him 
those who came to ask his assistance, by telling them he could 
not do things so extraordinary but by the influence of the devil. 



120 CHOICE OF A HAGNETIZER. [CHAP. VI, 

Several persons have given him notice that, if he continues to 
receive patients, they will denounce him as a charlatan, and that 
he will lose his office. They have also troubled the quiet of his 
wife, who found herself happy in the good she saw him do. And 
finally, to preserve his peace, he has been obliged to end his 
magnetic labors. 

I appeal to enlightened men : there are many of them among^ 
the ecclesiastics, and among men eminent in society, who have 
correct ideas of magnetism. I hope they would not refuse to 
undertake the defence of the man whose sentiments I have made 
known, if he had to repel the attacks of ignorance or of envy. 



121 



CHAPTER VII. 



OF THE APPLICATION OF MAGNETISM TO DISEASES, 
AND ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 

From the time of Hippocrates to our own days, medi- 
cine has been practised by men who have consecrated their 
lives to study, who have called to their aid all the natural 
and physical sciences, and who, endowed with the talent 
of observation, and with indefatigable zeal, unite to their 
own experience that of their contemporaries and that of 
their predecessors. Innumerable facts have been collect- 
ed, discussed, and compared. A positive foundation has 
been established in anatomy ; in the knowledge of external 
signs, which indicate the alterations of various organs ; in 
that of the constant action which certain substances exert 
over the human body ; in the comparison of the effects ob- 
tained by various modes of treatment ; in the classification 
of diseases ; and in some general principles, founded upon 
experience, in relation to which all are agreed. And yet 
medicine is still uncertain. Although it has been taught 
in the schools for two thousand years, physicians do not 
agree either about the cause of diseases, or the choice of 
proper remedies. The science has changed a hundred 
times since the days of Galen, and opposite opinions have 
reigned successively in the schools. There is hardly a 
disease which has not been vanquished by different means : 
there is no system unsupported by facts. The method 
preferred in one age has been rejected in another ; and, at 
the same time, different sects have been seen to oppose 
each other, each one professing to have discovered the true 
way. Some physicians have declared themselves for the 
medicine that is to be ; others, for medicine as it is. Some 
are for using few remedies ; others advise having recourse 
to many. The most active medicines have been cried up 
11 



122 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

with enthusiasm, or condemned as dangerous, according 
to their agreement with the doctrines of the leader of 
this or that school. Even at the present day, when the 
science of medicine has been so well taught ; when the 
most exact observations have been collected, classed, and 
compared ; when pathologic anatomy has arrived at the 
highest degree of perfection, — physicians are still seen to 
differ in opinion relative to the use of bleeding, leeches, 
purgatives, and Peruvian bark, in this or that disease. 
The pupils of one master, doubtless very skilful, maintain 
that, up to his time, no one has properly understood med- 
icine; while those of another school, acknowledging that 
he has shed great light upon the nature and the seat of 
many diseases, and confessing the success he has himself 
obtained by his method, consider him, nevertheless, as a 
rash innovator, whose principles, too much generalized^, 
may be erroneous and dangerous. 

Since there is so much uncertainty in medicine, which 
for more than two thousand years has formed a regular 
science, and whose principles, founded upon innumerable 
observations, have been incessantly rectified by new obser- 
vations, how much uncertainty there must of necessity be, 
in regard to magnetism, which, if it has been practised 
empirically from the highest antiquity, has not, at least, 
formed a particular science, except for a small number 
of years, and can be sustained by but few observations. 
Further, these few observations have been collected by 
men who are unacquainted with medicine, and who are 
liable to be deceived, both in regard to the nature of the 
diseases and to the effects they have produced. Many of 
them have even been led astray by enthusiasm. And, 
finally, if we have very circumstantial and correct rela- 
tions of cures effected by magnetism in this or in that 
case, they have passed over in silence similar cases, where- 
in they have made use of it without any success. 

Magnetism doubtless has a curative power truly prodi- 
gious. But in what cases ought we to have recourse to it? 
In what manner ought we to modify its action, to give it 
the degree of energy which circumstances require ? When 
ought we to employ it alone 1 When and how ought we 
to associate it with other remedial means ? What modi- 
fications of the ordinary medical treatment ought it to 



€HAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 123 

introduce? When does it act as a palliative? when 
as a radical cure ? In what cases will the effects it pro- 
duces authorize us to believe it will operate a perfect cure? 
Are there no cases where it may do mischief? Are there 
none where it is absolutely insufficient 1 Ought it to be 
employed equally in chronic and acute diseases? What 
are the diseases, in these two classes, which it will most 
readily and most surely cure ? Should the crises resulting 
from its action be always considered as salutary effects? 
As many somnambulists desire to be magnetized only 
during a certain number of minutes, and at intervals more 
or less distant, ought we thence to conclude that persons 
easily affected, but who are not somnambulists, can receive 
any injury from an action too much prolonged, or too fre- 
quently renewed? and, under this supposition, by what 
symptoms shall we determine the season and the duration 
of the sittings ? All these questions, and a thousand oth- 
ers not less important, cannot yet be satisfactorily and pos- 
itively solved ; and he to whom these do not present any 
embarrassment is either an enthusiast, who breaks down 
all difficulties, or so ignorant as not to know them. 

Magnetism cannot take its rank among the sciences, 
and present a doctrine of which application may in all 
cases be made, until physicians take it up seriously, to de- 
termine its effects upon various temperaments, diseases, 
and modes of applying it, and to compare these effects 
with those which other remedies produce in the same cir- 
cumstances. 

Hence it follows that it would be rash to depend upon 
it alone for the cure of severe diseases, except in some des- 
perate cases, where medicine has been thoroughly tried 
without success. I am far from advising you to trust in 
magnetism exclusively : I advise you to recur to it solely 
as an auxiliary to ordinary medicine. 

I will here add a moral consideration, which I have laid 
down in my Critical History. It is this : If, in a danger- 
ous malady, you rely upon magnetism without consulting 
your physician, you take upon yourself a great responsibil- 
ity ; and, if the patient dies, you will have cause for self- 
reproach. Medicine itself could not have raised him : 
this may be true ; but you would have followed the ordinary 
course; you would have done what has always been done; 



124 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [cHAP. VIL 

and you would not be troubled with the fear of having 
neglected more efficacious means than the ones you have 
employed ; relations and friends would not be justified in 
blaming you for having made the patient follow a treatment 
of your own choice. 

Ought it thence to be concluded that one should be very 
reserved in the application of magnetism ? that we should 
not have recourse to it except in slight affections, or in 
desperate cases ? Not at all. On the contrary, we ought 
to make use of it every time we can, observing to be pru- 
dent, and not to discard medicine. 

I know very well that cases will be found, where mag- 
netism, employed alone, with unbounded confidence, with 
all the energy possible, would have cured a patient ; but 
he is not cured, because the magnetizer has moderated the 
action too much, because he has not entirely devoted him- 
self to him, and because he has used in connection there- 
with medicines which neutralized or counteracted its influ- 
ence. But how shall we determine beforehand whether 
we ought to renounce all other means ? And is it not bet- 
ter to expose ourselves to the danger of not doing all the 
good possible to the patient, than run the risk of leaving 
him to perish by renouncing the methods generally pur- 
sued 1 A man who is wearied of medicine by useless at- 
tempts, — who, not having received any relief from reme- 
dies, is determined to take no more of them, — may well 
devote himself exclusively to magnetism, and to claim for 
that purpose the cares of a relation or a friend; but none 
other than a physician has the right to give him such 
advice. 

I believed these reflections necessary to quiet the enthu- 
siasm of those whom many astonishing cures have per- 
suaded that magnetism can triumph over all diseases ; that 
it is the medicine of nature, and the only medicine truly 
salutary. 

I will lay down what I consider the best rules for prac- 
tice; first, by examining the derangements of health in 
general, and then the various diseases.* 

In slight and recent indispositions, in those which are 

Before giving this chapter to the printer, I submitted it to the 
judgement of several physicians. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 125 

not absolutely attended with danger, and when the object 
is to dissipate a local pain, to prevent the consequences of 
a contusion, to promote the circulation by restoring heat 
to the extremities, to accelerate a cure which nature is 
operating alone, you might employ magnetism without any 
other precautions than the ones I have pointed out, and 
without the least apprehension : the only inconvenience 
might be that of not having succeeded. 

For example, one has a headache ; you try to dissipate 
it: a woman has colic pains; you drive them off: or if an 
accident has recently arrested the progress of circulation, 
you make the blood take its natural course. You magnet- 
ize for a fluxion, a whitlow, {mal cVaventure,) for a slight 
wound, for a sprain, for a rheumatic pain, for the stomach- 
ache, for difficulty of breathing, &,c. Slc. There is no 
need of consulting any one ; it is enough if the patient 
desires it. Continue it as long as you think it useful, and, 
if you do not succeed, you are not to be astonished at your 
want of success, but hope to be more successful another 
time. I have nothing to say upon these kinds of indisposi- 
tions, except that the magnetizer should set himself to 
curing them the most promptly, and as completely as pos- 
sible, by simply aiding the action of nature, without search- 
ing for any phenomena, without permitting any experi- 
ment, without dreaming of displaying the power with 
which he is endowed, or of proving to the incredulous the 
reality and the efficiency of the means he employs. 

I wish to speak of diseases for which, if we did not have 
recourse to magnetism, it would be requisite to follow 
some other treatment ; and I say it is prudent to impart to 
a physician the resolution which has been taken to try 
magnetism, and to entreat him to observe the effects which 
this new agent produces, in order thereby to modify the 
treatment. This is a general rule ; let us now discuss par- 
ticular cases. 

Although we have not yet a great number of observa- 
tions made by able men upon the effects of magnetism, 
there are some of them, however, well established, and 
from which conclusions may be drawn. There are also 
some which prove the peculiar efficacy of this agent in 
certain cases. I am going to enter into some details on 
this subject. 

11* 



126 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

In Germany, Sweden, Prussia, and Holland, the physi- 
cians have attended to magnetism : they have published 
the facts which they have witnessed, and have drawn in- 
structive results from them ; but, as I am not acquainted 
with the languages in which they have written, I have not 
been able to read their works. I am, therefore, obliged to 
limit myself to the observations I have been able to collect 
in French, Latin, and English books, to those which have 
been communicated to me by enlightened men, and to 
those which I have myself made, to serve as the basis of 
my principles. I am at least sure that I shall not go be- 
yond the truth, and that no one can reproach me with 
having pushed my confidence too far. I invite physicians 
who have studied magnetism, to rectify my ideas, and to 
lay down rules, by the aid of which one may act with more 
boldness. 

Cures of almost all diseases, effected by magnetism, have 
been cited ; but it would be wrong to conclude from them 
that magnetism is a specific for all. There are many indi- 
viduals on whom it acts very slightly, and perhaps not at 
all ; as there are others who are extremely sensible to it. 
Therefore it cannot he said that magnetism cures this or 
that disease ; but only that it has cured these or those indi- 
viduals who icere attacked by it; which is a very different 
thing. 

Besides, those who have written upon magnetism have 
generally related cases wherein they have produced re- 
markable effects, without speaking of those in which its 
action has been powerless. 

Thus the various relations which have been published of 
cures effected by magnetism, are well calculated to reveal 
to us the inconceivable power of this agent; but they 
do not enable us to understand either the limits of this 
power, or the obstacles which prevent its full effect. In 
regard to this, we can obtain instruction only from our 
own experience, or by that of men who, after having prac- 
tised it a long time, have not forgotten the unsuccessful 
trials they have made, or the desperate cases in which they 
have succeeded. 

But, though we cannot affirm beforehand whether an in- 
dividual will be affected by magnetism, and whether he 
will be benefited by it, yet we know what diseases have 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 127 

most frequently yielded to its action, and in what manner 
we ought to modify its use to draw from it all the advan- 
tages possible. 

I am going, then, to speak of various diseases, and to 
point out the line of conduct which appears to me the 
wisest according to circumstances, and the cases wherein, 
from experiments made during forty years, you may be 
most warranted in expecting success. 

There are two great classes of diseases; — the acute, 
which are rapid in their progress, and which, when the 
dangers that they exhibit in their developement are sur- 
mounted, terminate at a known period, and are succeeded 
by convalescence ; and the chronic, which are not limited 
in duration, whose course is uncertain, and whose crises 
and symptoms vary, without our knowing any very certain 
means of judging from them the probability of a cure. 
These diseases sometimes prove fatal in the end ; more 
often they render existence painful or languishing. Some 
are incurable ; but in regard to no one of them can we 
determine at what epoch a crisis will occur which an- 
nounces death or a cure. 

The conduct of the magnetizer should be altogether 
different in these two classes of diseases. 

In acute diseases, call in the physician as soon as you 
can, and follow the prescriptions that he gives; but tell 
him you desire to try magnetism as auxiliary. I do not 
think a sensible physician would take it ill that you passed 
your hands over the patient with the desire of curing him. 
If he regards the practice as absolutely useless, he cannot 
regard it as dangerous, provided it does not hinder you 
from administering the remedies he has ordered. If you ob- 
tain any remarkable effects; if you produce any crises, such 
as perspiration, evacuations, &c. ; if you allay the fever, 
or the pains, — you will let the physician know it, requesting 
him to observe it; and you will continue to follow his ad- 
vice, until you have the happiness of obtaining well-marked 
somnambulism, accompanied with lucidity ; for in this 
case, the physician can enlighten you, and indicate to you 
the questions which you should put to your somnambu- 
list ; but the somnambulist should be heard in preference 
to him. 

You will attentively observe the sensations experienced 



128 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

by the patient, as you are establishing the currents of the 
fluid, and slowly making passes over all the body. These 
sensations, which often indicate the seat of the disease, will 
intimate to you when to modify, to lessen, or to increase 
your action, and to direct it, in preference, to this or that 
part. The indications furnished by the physician may also 
be very useful to you, by engaging you to create a reaction 
towards a particular point, to the advantage of an essential 
organ dangerously threatened with attack. You will take 
care to magnetize thoroughly all the drink which is given 
to your patient. You will examine whether the action of 
magnetism is agreeable to him. In case it disturbs him, 
it is necessary to cease. Try to make use of the simplest 
processes, in order to cause your patient neither trouble, 
inquietude, nor astonishment. If your physician is not 
well convinced of the reality of magnetism, you should 
avoid magnetizing in his presence. The desire you have 
to produce perceptible and convincing effects, might 
withdraw your attention from the principal object, and be 
injurious to your patient. If you are too much fatigued, 
if your strength is exhausted, discontinue ; you should not 
magnetize him more. If the inquietude which the state 
of your patient causes, or the want of rest, has brought you 
into a state of nervous excitement, cease ; you will do him 
harm. Wait until your tranquillity is restored, and your 
confidence banishes your apprehension. 

If you have within reach a somnambulist who has already 
given you proofs of clairvoyance, you may consult him ; 
but you should make it a rule not to follow any one of his 
prescriptions without the consent of a physician. It may 
happen that the somnambulist will say the physician has 
not well judged the character of the disease ; and that you 
have good reason to suppose he says the truth, from the 
description of the circumstances which preceded the mani- 
festation, and of the symptoms displayed by the patient, 
of which he had not the least knowledge. In this case, 
you will find yourself embarrassed. You should have an 
explanation with the physician, preserving the respect due 
to him, but speaking with frankness and confidence, and 
entreat him to institute a new examination. If he does 
not agree, call in another physician to consult with him. 
If the physicians reject the advice of the somnambulist, 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 129 

you ought to rely upon them, whatever may be your own 
opinion. I make this one exception — when the physicians 
pronounce the disease desperate, and a perfectly disin- 
terested somnambulist answers for the cure, and supports 
his assertions by arguments and proofs. 

During convalescence, you should sustain the strength 
of the patient by magnetism. 

Neither during the disease, nor during convalescence, 
should we magnetize too long at a time. Two or three 
sittings of a half hour, or of three fourths of an hour, ought 
to be enough in almost all cases ; and you will fatigue 
yourself uselessly by devoting more time to it. 

I say " in almost all cases," because we sometimes meet 
with circumstances where we ought to keep up the move- 
ment impressed, or terminate a crisis commenced. Thus, 
the gout being carried to the head, and you have contrived 
to make it descend to the breast ; it is necessary to con- 
tinue until you have drawn it to the feet. But then the 
effect produced suffices to point out what ought to be done, 
without the necessity of instruction. 

In the most violent acute diseases, magnetism has often 
been seen to quiet nervous movements, spasms, and the 
attacks of pain, to free the head, to put an end to the 
comatose state, to produce salutary crises, and to put the 
patient in a condition to take the remedies ordered by the 
physician, which it was before impossible to administer. 

Several physicians, who have caused magnetism to be 
employed under their own eyes, have declared to me that 
it has been of great assistance to them in facilitating the 
administering of remedies, and insuring their efficiency. 

It often happens that patients who are reduced very low, 
and can hardly breathe, are revived after being magnetized 
one hour : they feel new strength ; they experience a sense 
of ease which surprises them ; they even request to have 
some nourishment, which the physician can give them 
without inconvenience. Almost always, when magnetism 
produces good, the pulse becomes regular. The change 
is so observable that the physician can always be con- 
vinced of it. 

Magnetism very often assuages a fever, or at least its 
paroxysms; it puts a stop to the delirium; it imparts 
strength at the same time, when it diminishes the agitation 



130 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

of the nerves. But the violence of the fever sometimes 
opposes the establishment of the magnetic communication; 
it appears to repel the action, when this action has not 
been previously established.* 

There is no doubt that it is in the most severe acute dis- 
eases that magnetism acts with the most readiness and effi- 
cacy. It truly operates prodigies in those kinds of diseases. 
It does not always act; but when it does once act, it hastens 
the course of the disease ; it sustains and developes the 
forces medicatrices. It rapidly brings on the crises which 
are to determine the cure. 

It is of great aid in putrid and malignant fevers : in the 
former, it sustains the strength ; in the latter, it regulates 
the motions. It quiets the nerves in nervous fevers ; it 
gives strength to the stomach, and produces evacuations in 
bilious and gastric fevers. 

I would not dare to advise recourse to magnetism when 
a very great inflammation, accompanied with a general 
disturbance of the functions, indicates the necessity of re- 
tarding the movement of the blood, and of weakening the 
patient. Magnetism, properly applied, is soothing, since it 
reestablishes the equilibrium ; but it is not less true that 
it is a tonic, and generally accelerates the circulation of the 
blood, and augments the vital action. Nevertheless, we 
can, in case of a general irritation, magnetize by the long 
pass at a distance, with the palms of the hands, and with 
the intention of soothing, taking care to throw off the fluid 
from the sides. If the magnetizer perceives a burning 
sensation in his hands, he can, from time to time, moisten 
them in acidulated water. 

When there is merely a local inflammation, as in the 
sore throat, it is easy to turn the blood from the direction 
it has taken : by drawing the fluid towards the legs and 
the feet, the upper portions of the body are disengaged. I 
have cured a quinsy under the eyes of a physician whom I 
had invited. I magnetized on the second day of the dis- 
ease ; the inflammation was stopped ; and on the day fol- 

* A physician, who has practised magnetism with great success, 
told me that, in very violent fevers, he had obtained good effects by 
a process which I ought to mention. It consists in dipping the 
hands into water acidulated with vinegar, and then making long 
passes with the palms of the hands. He assured me that, by this 
means, he soothed the paroxysm, and often produced perspiration 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 131 

lowing, the tumor could be opened without employing any 
other means. 

In certain inflammatory diseases, which are seated in the 
most essential viscera, magnetism, employed at the time of 
the attack, can perform wonders in reestablishing the gen- 
eral harmony, and bringing about a crisis. Many experi- 
ments prove that it has promptly cured pleurisies which 
commenced by a sharp pain in the side, and the spitting of 
blood. In this case, we begin by placing the palm of the 
hand upon the seat of the pain : we let it remain there 
some time ; then we spread the pain by making passes at a 
distance with the open hand. We continue this during 
two hours: and, if the pain is not dissipated, or at least con- 
siderably lessened, or if we have not brought on a salutary 
crisis, such as a general perspiration, we have recourse to 
the more prompt means of medicine. The time which 
passes between the instant when the physician is sent for, 
and the instant when he is enabled to come to the house 
of the patient, suffices to ascertain whether magnetism acts 
well, and whether it can subdue the disorder. And it is 
seldom that we are not necessitated to join some medical 
remedies to the magnetic treatment ; and it belongs to the 
physician to prescribe them. 

I have known magnetism to cure very speedily, and by 
an action altogether peculiar, very severe inflammatory dis- 
eases. Here is an example. 

A lady, about fifty years old, had an inflammation of 
the stomach for more than a month. They had employed 
leeches, and all the remedies recommended by able physi- 
cians ; yet' the condition of the patient became every day 
more alarming. Her son, a medical student, having come 
to consult me in relation to the employment of magnetism, 
I advised him to make use of it, by holding only for a short 
time his hands upon the stomach, and making many passes 
along the thighs and legs. Two days after, the young man 
came to tell me the pains had quitted the stomach, and 
were lodged in the bowels, which troubled the physician. 
I assured him that he had rendered himself master of the 
disease, and that he could make it descend to the extremi- 
ties. In fact, the following day, she experienced slight 
twinges in the thighs, afterwards in the legs, and the abdo- 



132 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII, 

men was entirely freed from inflammation. During the dis- 
ease, the stomach had lost its digestive energies. As there 
was then no more irritation to be feared, they acted strong- 
ly upon the stomach by the application of the hands, and 
its usual tone, which it had lost, was restored. The patient, 
having been weakened by leeches and by dieting, had a 
very long period of convalescence, but her health was per- 
fectly established in the sequel. 

One might collect from the works on magnetism, and 
especially from those which have been published by the 
physicians of Germany, a great many instances of cures 
effected in acute disease by the magnetic treatment. I 
should make two observations on this subject. 1st. To 
form an opinion of the curative power of magnetism, we 
should depend solely upon relations given by physicians, 
who have been enabled to judge the character of the dis- 
order, the severity of the symptoms, and the progress of 
the cure. 2d. We should not attribute to the action of 
magnetism alone the cures of diseases in which the patient 
has been somnambulous, and still less those in which he 
has consulted somnambulists, because then the action has 
been aided by remedies. 

I have sometimes seen acute diseases cured by mag- 
netism alone, at the moment when they had reached the 
highest degree of violence. I think it proper to recite an 
instance of this kind. 

M. Boismarsas, an old soldier, at present guard of the 
monument erected in the Place Vendome, having been at- 
tacked by the cholera morbus, with excruciating pains, 
vomitings, and convulsions, the ordinary remedies had been 
resorted to in vain, and they entertained little hope of sav- 
ing his life. M. Despres, one of the physicians called to 
the consultation, proposed to try magnetism, which he had 
known to succeed in an analogous case ; the other physi- 
cians having consented, although they expected nothing 
from it, he came instantly to look for me. I soon saw that 
the patient was sensible to the magnetic action ; and his 
wife perceiving the effect I had produced, I told her she 
could cure her husband, and I showed her how to set 
about it. The vomitings and the convulsions ceased at 
the first application of the hands ; a slight sleep soothed 



€HAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 133 

him, he took no more medicine, and in five days the pa- 
tient was restored.* 

I do not pretend to conclude from this fact that we 
should obtain the same result in all similar cases. I merely 
conclude from it that the soothing action of magnetism can 
readily restore the equilibrium; and this is a reason for try- 
ing it in the most violent diseases. We are sure it cannot 
be injurious when properly applied, but its efficiency, less 
or great, depends upon a number of circumstances which 
we cannot appreciate. 

Among the proofs of the power of magnetism, one of the 
most convincing is, that it has been known to rekindle life 
at the very moment it seemed to be extinguished, as oxy- 
gen gas relumes the brand upon which there remains only a 
feeble spark. f When important organs are so much altered 
as to be no more able to perform their functions, this return 
to life is of short duration. But there are cases when such 
a power has been able to save a patient who appeared in a 
desperate condition. 

If the French physicians would take the trouble to col- 
lect the facts hitherto published, to submit them to a critical 
examination, and join them to their own observations, we 
should soon have surer data in regard to the efficaciousness 
of magnetism in acute diseases ; at present we must employ 
it with prudence, and as auxiliary to medicine. Let us 
come to chronic diseases. 

The patient who applies to you has a disease more or 
less inveterate ; he has tried various remedies, or he has 
not yet tried any. 

If the disease is recent, and if the patient has not under- 
gone any treatment, you can dispense with the services of a 
physician ; provided you do not wish to obtain his opinion 
upon the nature of the disease, upon the chances and means 
of cure, in order to appreciate, in the sequel, the effects 
which magnetism shall have produced. 

* M. J. Dupotet has already reported this fact in his " Exposition 
of the Experiments made at the Hotel Dieu in 1820." 

t There are several examples of it in German writers. A very 
remarkable one is found in a work entitled " The Russian in Paris, ' 
printed in 1814, by Barba, 2 vols. 12mo., at the 223d page of the first 
volume. The anecdote there related is the exact truth. The author, 
who was an eye-witness, put the recital of it into my mouth, although 
I had not recounted it to any person. 
12 



134 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

As the progress of these diseases is slow, there is no in- 
convenience in deferring the use of remedies ; and this for 
various reasons: In the first place, to assure yourself that 
the changes effected are due to magnetism ; in the next, to 
avoid disturbing the course of nature by foreign agents ; 
finally, that nothing may trouble or annoy the patient, who 
ought to abandon himself entirely to you. Continue this 
for about a month, even although you obtain no apparent 
result, and with stronger reason if crises occur ; except in 
case you see the essential symptoms of the disorder grow 
worse. In general, the curative action displays itself sooner 
the less inveterate the disease is. 

If the patient has already taken remedies, you will pre- 
vail with him to leave them off for a few days, in order to 
observe more carefully the action of magnetism. Substi- 
tute for his drinks magnetized water. You will recommend 
to him to live temperately, and avoid fatigue and excess of 
all kinds. 

There are some diseases which are both very severe and 
very long seated, the origin and principal seat of which are 
not well ascertained, which have for a long time resisted 
all the remedies, whose symptoms become every day more 
alarming, and which excite apprehensions for the life of the 
patients. For these diseases, people generally desire to try 
magnetism as a last resource ; but it is in relation to these 
that the magnetizer ought to reflect much, and take the 
most measures before charging himself with the treatment. 

First, he must ascertain whether the patient is firmly de- 
cided to continue the treatment all the time necessary, per- 
haps for more than six months, and whether the persons 
who have influence or authority over him will not endeavor 
to oppose this decision. For in this kind of diseases, when 
the action is once well established, and the crises are at 
hand, it is very troublesome to struggle against obstacles, 
and dangerous to interrupt the treatment. It is also neces- 
sary for the magnetizer so to arrange matters as to have 
the treatment regular, to have it regarded as the most im- 
portant affair for himself, for the patient, and for the family 
of the patient, until a cure is effected. Finally, the patient 
must make it a point of honor to give all his confidence to 
his magnetizer, to take advice from him only, and to follow 
exactly the regimen he prescribes. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 135 

If, as I have always recommended, he wishes to avail 
himself of the information and skill of a physician, it is 
essential to choose one who is acquainted with the effects 
of magnetism, that he may not order remedies which might 
oppose the developement of crises. This physician ought 
not to assist at the treatment, provided he is not familiar 
with the various phenomena of magnetism ; he may see 
the patient in the intervals of the sittings, and favor the 
magnetizer with his observations. But he should never 
be admitted for the purpose of satisfying his curiosity, or 
of augmenting his belief. It is proper for the magnetizer 
to have a good substitute ready, in case any circumstance, 
such as sickness, or a necessary journey, imposes a sus- 
pension of his duties for some days. And it would be very 
advantageous that, until a cure is effected, the treatment 
undertaken should be kept secret from all but the relations 
or intimate friends, with whom we ought not and cannot 
make a mystery of it. In imparting it to the physician in 
whom we have confidence, we should request him, in like 
manner, to say nothing about it. 

The precepts I here give are very rigorous ; but there 
are cases when they are very important. Their application 
may be modified according to circumstances, and according 
to the severity of the complaint. 

Let us now enter into some details relative to the various 
chronic diseases, which are the most common. 

In torpid diseases, in those of the lymphatic system, em- 
ploy magnetism with all the energy possible. Aid yourself 
with the chain, if you have the means of forming one. 

Many examples of the cure of dropsy are given in the 
books ; I have myself cured it in three instances. Mag- 
netism produces crises of perspiration and of diuresis. 
You may, nevertheless, second nature by light sudorifics 
or diuretics ; in selecting which, you should consult your 
physician, and magnetize them thoroughly. They will 
then take effect, although they have ceased to exert any 
action, if they have been given in large doses before the 
magnetic treatment. 

Magnetism is a sovereign remedy for enlargements of 
the glands. I have often seen the glands of the breast, 
when much enlarged and very painful, cured by it, when 
the most able physicians and surgeons had advised their 



136 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII, 

extirpation ; and I have been successful in that way myself, 
I have seen some of them which would not entirely dis- 
appear, but would be reduced to very small size, and which, 
remaining in this condition for several years after the treat- 
ment had ceased, have not caused the least pain or incon- 
venience. When the action is established, it is proper to 
blow upon the affected parts through a linen cloth several 
times folded, when it can be done without fatigue. Gen- 
erally, when the gland begins to lessen, a crisis comes on, 
manifested by inflammation and local pains. This crisis is 
transient; it creates no cause of alarm ; until it has passed, 
you may employ magnetism by the long pass, to lessen the 
pains and the inflammation. 

In obstructions and enlargements of the viscera, mag- 
netism is the most powerful of all remedies. You should 
present the points of the fingers, moving them round to 
spread the fluid, and then drawing it off; or you may use 
the breath, as before. The treatment is sometimes very 
long. Critical pains are experienced in the region of the 
obstruction ; but the patient grows better each day, and the 
obstruction is dissipated gradually. The obstructing sub- 
stance may be thrown out of the system, by using lax- 
atives. Insensibility to magnetism proves the cure to be 
complete. 

But when the obstruction of an essential organ is arrived 
to such a point that it performs none of its functions, and 
its tissue is destroyed or entirely changed, magnetism may 
be dangerous. By rousing the sensibility, by exciting a 
lively movement in the obstructed organ, it may produce a 
crisis beyond the ability of nature to support ; and the pa- 
tient will die much sooner than he would if the obstruction 
had remained inactive. I have known examples of this 
sort. In order to avoid this liability, you should consult a 
physician, who will determine whether the obstruction has 
become incurable ; and in this case, you should not under- 
take the treatment. You might, however, attempt, two or 
three times, not to concentrate the fluid upon the seat of 
the obstruction, but to magnetize by the long pass, to see 
whether the patient is susceptible of somnambulism; for if 
he becomes a somnambulist, he will tell what ought to be 
done, and we do not know but he may be cured. 

Magnetism has wrought astonishing cures in scrofulous 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 137 

diseases. The history of Greatrakes suffices to prove it. 
When these diseases are long seated and inveterate, much 
patience is required. When they are hereditary, I doubt 
whether they can be radically cured. 

Ulcers, which have exhausted the resources of medicine, 
have frequently been healed by magnetism. I will mention 
a few instances. 

A woman, fifty-eight years old, had an ulcer on the leg, 
and it was apparently healed by topical applications. But 
two months afterwards, there rose on the top of her head 
a swelling, which, having acquired the size of an egg, 
burst, and poured forth a greenish, purulent, and foetid 
matter, mingled with clots of corrupted blood. Soon after, 
the bones of the head exfoliated, exposing an orifice; the 
ulcer increased, and the physicians judged it incura- 
ble. The patient was about five years in this state. She 
suffered continually. She was deprived of sleep, and de- 
sired nothing but death, when M. le Chevalier Brice, a geo- 
graphical engineer attached to the post-office department, 
wished to make trial of magnetism, of which she had no 
idea. At first, he quieted the violence of the pains; he 
restored sleep; he produced crises; and, notwithstanding 
the strong repugnance which this frightful malady natu- 
rally inspired, — notwithstanding the fatigue he experienced, 
— he had the courage to continue, and the happiness of suc- 
ceeding after four months of uninterrupted cares. The 
cure being accomplished, he still magnetized her once a 
week for several months. This fact is still more worthy 
of attention, because it was not attended with somnam- 
bulism, nor with any phenomenon calculated to excite 
curiosity. This woman constantly made use of magnet- 
ized water, and took no medicine. She was one day mag- 
netized by a very strong man, who put her asleep ; but 
this proved to be injurious. 

The four facts following just took place at Corbeil, the 
correctness of which I went thither to ascertain : — 

1st. A woman who had an ulcer on the leg for ten years 
was cured in thirty-five sittings. 

2d. A man seventy-five years of age, who for the last 

three months apprehended the necessity of having his leg 

amputated, on account of an ulcer as large as his hand, 

which increased from day to dav, is now almost cured, 

12* 



138 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII, 

The opening is no more than a quarter of an inch in 
diameter.* 

3d. A man, who had been wounded, had been troubled 
with a sore, in consequence of it, for two years, which 
had been dressed with lint. This sore was closed in a 
few days. 

4th. A soldier lost antral in service in 1813. Last 
winter, the wound opened, Mid he suffered much. He was 
restored to health with such rapidity as greatly to astonish 
him. " I have travelled much," said he to me, " but I 
never saw the like of this." 

In pulmonary phthisis in the last stages, I do not believe 
that magnetism can effect a cure : it is beyond its power to 
regenerate an essential organ which is almost destroyed. 
If there is a cough, oppression, difficulty of breathing, or 
weakness, it eases the respiration, lessens the cough, re- 
stores the strength, diminishes the sufferings, and quickly 
brings on an observable relief; but it does not prevent the 
progress of the disorder ; perhaps it is even to be feared 
that, by augmenting the activity, it accelerates the final 
crisis. It is requisite, then, to use much moderation and 
prudence, and to continue the use of magnetism only so 
long as the patient desires it, and feels its soothing in- 
fluence. 

It is proper to try magnetism in a slow fever. If this 
fever be of a nervous kind, we can, perhaps, succeed in 
restoring the equilibrium ; if it is produced by an interior 
suppuration, the cure is not very probable, unless we can 
induce somnambulism. But as the action is borne directly 
to the seat of the disease, it powerfully aids medicinal 
remedies, and even has a particular efficaciousness. 

Asthmatic attacks are almost always soothed by mag- 
netism; and I am persuaded that this disease could be 
entirely driven off by a prolonged treatment. 

We have seen wonderful effects in casual and chronic 
vomitings, when all medical means have been thrown aside. 

M. Barbier, who resides at Rheims, was for twenty 
years afflicted with this cruel malady. He could not, 

* M. de Puysegur has just published an account of an analogous 
fact ; but the patient, having become somnambulic, prescribed rem- 
edies for himself, and his cure was not wholly owing to the mag- 
netic action. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 139 

for a quarter of an hour, keep the lightest food upon his 
stomach. He followed my advice in having recourse to 
magnetism. On the second day, the vomiting ceased, and 
a treatment of two months established him in perfect 
health. 

Two girls, one of whom had been troubled in this man- 
ner for fifteen months, the other for ten months, were lately 
magnetized at the Hotel Bfku ; both of them ceased to 
vomit after the second sitting.* 

In nervous diseases, if there be a prostration of strength, 
inaction, or torpor, magnetism is a sovereign specific. It 
acts without producing apparent crises. 

If there are spasms, convulsions, &c, it generally quiets 
them ; and it often produces crises more or less singular. 

If there is a general irritation, an excitement of the 
nerves, or a nervous fever, it frequently happens that it 
does not act; sometimes it augments the irritation. In 
general, it is less efficacious in the nervous affections 
which are called vapors, and in the greater part of other 
diseases, when they are long seated, and when many rem- 
edies have been taken, it produces singular phenomena, - 
but this does not prove that it will cure the more readily 
or the more speedily. The somnambulism of persons 
whose nerves are very delicate, presents strange crises, 
and traits of marvellous clairvoyance ; but the patient 
whose imagination is very excitable, and whose attention 
is distracted by a thousand objects, does not see so dis- 
tinctly his disorder and its remedy. With such somnam- 
bulists we most require calmness and prudence ; it is with 
these that we should most fear to be dazzled by wonderful 
results, and led away by curiosity. It is especially neces- 
sary to be attentive, that the patient do not remain in the 
magnetic state during the interval between the crises. 

Of all disorders, the most frightful in its attacks, the 
most formidable by the dangers to which it exposes, and 
the most inaccessible to remedies, is precisely that which 
offers the most convincing proofs of the power of magnet- 
ism; I mean epilepsy. It is not because we are sure of 

* See the " Exposition of Experiments in Animal Magnetism made 
at the Hotel Dieu at Paris, during the Months of October, November, 
and December, 1820, by J. Dupotet." 



140 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

triumphing over it. If many epileptics have been radically 
cured, with many others, the violence and the frequency of 
the attacks have been diminished merely ; and I have found 
such in my own practice. But it is certain that, in the 
great number of epileptics who have been under magnetic 
treatment, many more perfect cures have been obtained 
from it than from medicine. We should, therefore, never 
hesitate to employ it. The Attempts may be fruitless, but 
they are not attended with any inconvenience. In many 
other long-seated diseases, you ought not to commence a 
treatment until you are sure of continuing it: if you have 
excited a crisis, it is essential to bring it to a close ; but in 
this one, the worst thing is to leave the patient in the state 
in which he is. 

A good magnetizer will hardly ever fail to put a speedy 
stop to an attack of epilepsy ; but he would do wrong to 
conclude from this that the cure of the disorder is easy. 
The treatment of epilepsy demands, on the part of the 
magnetizer, great confidence, courage, perseverance, and 
devoted ness. 

Epilepsy may be hereditary or accidental, long seated or 
recent. It may originate in a defect of organization, in a 
derangement of the nervous system, in an irregular move- 
ment of the blood or of the humors, in the suppression of 
an evacuation, or in several other causes; therefore we 
cannot know beforehand whether it will yield to the mag- 
netic treatment. The attacks being generally irregular, 
and renewed at epochs more or less distant, they may 
be suspended for a longer or shorter time without having 
the cause destroyed. But we have more reason for confi- 
dence when the attacks are frequent, than when they were 
rare, before the employment of magnetism. For example, 
he who had attacks every day may be regarded as cured, 
if he passes two or three months without having any; while 
it is necessary to wait a year to form a similar judgement in 
relation to one who had these attacks only once a month. 

Hence it follows that, when the patient is freed from his 
attacks, it is necessary to continue magnetizing him, in 
order to prevent the return and destroy the cause of them. 
When several of the epochs at which the patient usually 
experiences his attacks have passed away without his 
having the least symptoms of the disorder, we may discon- 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 141 

tinue magnetizing him every day ; we may at first let a 
day, then two days, then three days, and finally a month, 
intervene between the sittings; bnt we should constantly 
continue the use of magnetized water, which ought to be 
employed from the first day of the treatment, and a long 
time after discontinuing the sittings. It would be well, 
also, for the convalescent to carry about him an object 
magnetized, which the magnetizer will take care to charge, 
from time to time, with the fluid. 

Somnambulism has been frequently induced in cases of 
epilepsy. If it occurs, the magnetizer knows what he 
ought to do and what he ought to expect. He is even 
almost sure of curing the patient, provided he conforms 
himself to the principles I have given for the direction of 
somnambulists. 

I am acquainted with a young lady of twenty, who has 
had attacks of epilepsy ever since she was nine years of 
age. They were very frequent at certain periods, and had 
been unsuccessfully treated by able physicians.* It is 
three months since she had recourse to magnetism. From 
the first month, the attacks became weaker and less fre- 
quent ; at the end of the second month, they entirely dis- 
appeared, and her health is now as good as any one can 
desire. She interdicted to herself all sorts of medicine, 
and declared it necessary to magnetize her two months 
more, every other day, and that without this the disorder 
would return. 

Unhappily, she imagines that magnetism makes her sleep 
three hours every day of natural sleep. She does not be- 
lieve in somnambulism. She says she is cured, and her 
mother has great trouble in making her continue a treat- 
ment of which she is wearied. 

As the disease was caused by an accident, and as the 
somnambulist has given proofs of great clairvoyance, I do 
not doubt that she will be radically cured, provided she 
does not interrupt her treatment before the termination of 
the period she has assigned. 

In the diseases which physicians call hysteric affections, 

* I have read four of the consultations given by different physi- 
cians. In the three first, the malady is designated by the name of 
symptomatic or sympathetic epilepsy ; in the fourth, it was called an 
incurable hysteric affection. 



142 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES* [CHAP. VII. 

— diseases which are long, painful, variable in their symp- 
toms, the seat of which is in the abdominal viscera, and 
which Medicine herself despairs of, — magnetism exerts the 
most powerful and the most salutary action. It produces 
wonderful effects, and the cure is generally wrought by 
singular crises, sometimes very violent, and about which 
we should not be alarmed. It is in this malady that we 
most frequently obtain a very lucid somnambulism, at- 
tended with extraordinary phenomena; but we should not 
forget any one of the precautions I have mentioned. The 
magnetizer ought to restrain his curiosity; preserve his 
self-possession ; interdict to himself all experiments ; care- 
fully avoid exciting the imagination of the somnambulist; 
prevent him from attending to things foreign to his health ; 
not flatter his vanity by appearing astonished at his clair- 
voyance ; not yield to his caprices ; watch that he follows a 
suitable regimen; not push the magnetic action beyond 
what is necessary ; and absolutely break all communication 
between the magnetic and the ordinary state. When, in 
this disease, somnambulism naturally ceases, it is a proof 
of the perfect reestablishment of health. I here repeat 
several things which I have said in my chapter on som- 
nambulism ; but it is because there is no disease in the 
treatment of which the magnetizer is more exposed to be 
carried beyond bounds by the wonderful phenomena, and 
because there are none in which such deviations are more 
dangerous. 

The hypochondriac affection is nearly allied to the hys- 
teric affection, and yields in the same manner to mag- 
netism, but with this difference — the cure is often effected 
without apparent crises, and by a gradual diminution of 
the symptoms of the disease. The strength, the gayety, the 
appetite, the complexion, the good bodily condition, return 
by degrees. The same effect takes place in chlorosis, or 
leucorrhoea. 

Magnetism is effectual in all kinds of paralysis. It 
almost always restores the sensibility, and reestablishes the 
movement ; but sometimes sharp pains appear as the sen- 
sibility returns. It is then necessary for the magnetizer 
and his charge to have patience. In palsy of the limbs, 
it is proper to make magnetic frictions. If magnetism acts 
in a perceptible manner, and appears insufficient, you 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 143 

should seek to aid it by the remedies prescribed by the 
physician. 

Paralysis of the organs of motion is sometimes attended 
with pains, which the magnetic action can drive off, with- 
out restoring motion. The paralysis of the lower limbs 
often springs from an affection of the spinal marrow. It 
is then necessary to magnetize, commencing at the back, 
and conducting the action along the thighs to the extremi- 
ties of the feet. I have magnetized a man who was in this 
condition. I did not cure him, but I greatly relieved him. 
After each sitting, his feet were red, as if they had been 
served with a mustard poultice. In paralyses which origi- 
nate in the disorganization of a part of the brain, I pre- 
sume that a cure is impossible. 

In the " Relations of Cures effected in France," you 
will find more than sixty of paralysis ; and in this number 
only three are mentioned as somnambulists. I make this 
remark because nothing more fully proves the efficacy of 
magnetism than this disease. In the first place, the pa- 
tients not having been somnambulists, they did not pre- 
scribe remedies for themselves, and they owe their health 
to magnetism alone. In the next place, when people wish 
to publish magnetic treatments, they prefer to choose the 
ones which have presented singular phenomena ; and since 
they have cited sixty cures of paralysis, it is probable that 
there have been ten times as many. 

Magnetism speedily soothes spasms, by reestablishing 
the equilibrium. In spasms, especially when they proceed 
from a moral cause, a concentration of the vital power 
generally takes place towards the interior of the body, 
which becomes evident from the coldness and paleness of 
the extremities. These spasms ordinarily terminate in a 
diuretic movement, which the magnetic action favors, while, 
at the same time, it brings back the heat towards the parts 
which were deprived of it. 

Recourse should be had to magnetism in cases of mental 
alienation. I do not, however, believe that it will cure this 
disorder when it is hereditary or of long standing, when 
it springs from a defect of organization, and when there is 
a continued state of phrenzy. But when the disorder is 
accidental and recent, there is much reason to hope for 



144 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

success. As a proof of this, I will mention a fact of which 
I was a witness. 

A young man, twenty years old, became so insane as to 
be placed in a lunatic asylum. His afflicted family made 
application to a man who possesses in a high degree all 
the qualities which constitute a good magnetizer. He 
went to see the young man, and after reiterated attempts 
for three days, he succeeded in putting himself in commu- 
nication, to make his presence desirable, and entirely to 
soothe his fits. In fifteen days, the cure was complete, and 
there remains no symptom of the excitement which pre- 
ceded the phrensy. 

Persons whose minds are alienated are often known to 
experience pleasurable sensations in the presence of certain 
persons who have a natural dominion over them, and to 
whom they submit without resistance. These are the per- 
sons who would most readily succeed in curing them. 
Those whose presence frightens or repulses them will not 
accomplish it. It is probable that with most insane people 
whose fits are irregular, one might produce a soothing in- 
fluence followed with sleep, and eventually with somnam- 
bulism ; * then their restoration is almost certain. If he 
has a prevalent idea, the magnetizer may chase it away by 
an effort of the will. I know very well that the greater 
part of the trials of this kind would be fruitless ; but here 
the thing is so important, and medicine has so few re- 
sources, that we should not neglect a means whose success 
is possible. 

When women are threatened, in an essential organ, with 
scirrhosity or ulceration, magnetism is the best and the 
most active of all remedies ; but I do not believe it will 
bring about a cure if the disease has made much progress. 
In this case, it first dissipates the pain, and restores the 
strength ; but the disease reappears afterwards, and grows 
worse, notwithstanding all the care bestowed upon it. 

Many inconveniences, and also some severe diseases, are 
produced in women by a suppression or a disturbance in 

* The history of the disorder and the cure of the young Hebert, 
published by the Marquis de Puys6gur, is one of the most curious 
and most instructive works that can be consulted in relation to the 
power of magnetism to calm the agitation of the nerves, and to stop 
the fits of madness which spring from it. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 145 

the course of circulation to which nature has subjected 
them. In these cases, which are very frequent, the efficacy 
of magnetism is proved by innumerable facts. It almost 
always establishes the circulation, sooner or later, accord- 
ing to the length of time since the appearance of the dis- 
order. It is requisite to direct the action from the sides to 
the feet, letting the hands rest a moment at the knees.* 
You will avoid putting them on the stomach, except when 
you are about to commence the long passes. You will 
particularly avoid putting them on the head, for fear of 
causing a tendency of the blood thither. Somnambulism 
being frequently displayed in this disease, you may expect 
to obtain it ; but for the reason I have just hinted at, you 
must take good care not to provoke it, by concentrating 
the action upon the brain. When the desired effect has 
been produced, you will content yourself with lightly mag- 
netizing, so as to establish the general harmony of the 
system. 

In intermittent fevers, you should first employ the long 
passes upon the arm, then the application of the hands 
upon the stomach, from whence sweep off towards the feet. 
You should choose the moment when the attack commences. 
You will often have the satisfaction of arresting the ague fit 
the first time you try, and the fever only will take place with 
great heat. You will also magnetize on days when there 
will not be any attack. Fevers very frequently cease after 
a few sittings, say from three to six. It is proper to mag- 
netize several days more, and give the patient magnetized 
water to drink, to prevent the return of the complaint. 

In pains of the stomach which proceed from debility, 
the application of the hand upon the stomach creates a heat 
which is tonic and curative. If there is any irritation, this 
process is not proper ; you should then act at a distance, 
with the most soothing processes. If the stomach is coated 
with bile or with sordes, which may be discovered by the 
state of the tongue, you should not dispense with an emetic 
or a purgative, provided magnetism does not immediately 
excite one of those motions which often takes place with 
persons very sensitive to its action. 

* This process ought not to be employed if there is reason to sus- 
pect a state of pregnancy. 

13 



146 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VIL 

To cure the headache attended with cold feet, put your 
hands upon the head for several minutes, continue with 
the long passes, and make repeated passes over the limbs. 
The feet will become warm ; the head will be free. If the 
headache be accidental, it will not return ; if it is habitual, 
make use of magnetized socks. The megrims which have 
their seat in the stomach, yield to the application of the 
hand upon the region of that organ. Those which are 
nervous are more difficult to cure. You may make a trial 
of various processes, and draw the fluid from the head, by 
conducting it towards the sides. If the pain is periodic, if 
it has existed for years, if it is the consequence of a blow, 
if it is produced by a gathering in the head, it ought to be 
considered as a chronic disease, which exacts prolonged 
^attention. In this case, you could easily throw it off on a 
sudden ; but there is danger, if you do not continue your 
treatment many days in course, in order to destroy the 
cause, by bringing on a crisis. In general, when we have 
dislodged a periodical pain, it is essential to continue the 
use of magnetism, until the epoch when an attack is ex- 
pected to return. The cure cannot take place except by a 
crisis, which must not be left imperfect, and we have no 
grounds for supposing it to have been effected, until we 
see that the expected attack has failed to come on. The 
sudden dislodgement of a humor, which has been fixed a 
long time in an important organ, may bring on a serious 
disorder when we neglect to sustain and direct the move- 
ment we have first given. 

Pains produced by a stoppage of the perspiration are 
almost always cured by magnetism, the most ordinary effect 
of which is to reestablish the perspiration. The ills caused 
by the suppression of a local perspiration, as in the feet ? 
the hands, &c, disappear in the same manner by the re- 
turn of that perspiration, which may be effected by drawing 
towards the extremities. You must take some care to keep 
up this perspiration. 

In rheumatisms, sciatica, &c, the pains are sometimes 
considerably relieved, and even carried off, at the first sit- 
ting; at other times, they are merely dislodged. They are 
most generally soothed or dissipated by degrees, after a 
treatment of greater or smaller duration. Rheumatism is 
generally chronic ; but it may be classed with the acut© 



CHAP. Til.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 147 

diseases, be accompanied with a violent fever, and impose 
the necessity of a medical treatment analogous to that of 
inflammatory fevers. In this case, we should magnetize at 
a distance, drawing beyond the extremities, and by the 
most soothing processes. We should hasten to call in a 
physician, who, from the effects first produced, will judge 
whether he can dispense with having recourse to other 
remedies. It is in acute rheumatism that, upon certain 
subjects, magnetism operates in the most prompt and sur- 
prising manner. I have seen patients, who were affected 
in every limb with pains so lively that the slightest touch 
was insupportable to them, become so much relieved, after 
half an hour of magnetic action at a small distance, that I 
could give them frictions without their experiencing the 
ieast unpleasant sensation. But when the pains are thus 
a - i aged, we should not imagine the disease to be cured. 
This cannot be done without a crisis, or a prolonged treat- 
ment ; and, as I have already said, it belongs to the physi- 
cian to declare what it is proper to do in order entirely to 
dissipate the inflammation, to prevent the recurrence of 
the pains, and to destroy the cause of the disease. 

I ought to add that, of all the diseases treated by mag- 
netism, rheumatism is the one in which the most success 
has been obtained, although somnambulism has been very 
rarely produced. 

I do not know whether it would cure the gout seated in 
the foot or the hand, when there are chalky concretions^ 
(nodus,) but I have seen a fit of the gout, so violent that 
the patient could not put his foot to the earth, relieved by 
one sitting, and so cured by three, that the pains have not 
returned for eighteen months. I have also seen a somnam- 
bulist, in fifteen days, cure her magnetizer, who, for a long 
time, suffered with the gout in the knees and in the feet 
For this purpose she merely employed passes along the 
legs, continuing them each day for a quarter of an hour. 
As it is only six months since this cure was wrought, I 
cannot affirm that the somnambulist does not mistake in 
saying the disease will never again return. 

When the gout has mounted into the head or the chest, 
magnetism readily brings it down to the feet. Three ex- 
periments of this kind, which I have lately made, were 
perfectly successful It is true that the patient was very 



148 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

sensible to the magnetic influence, and perfectly in com- 
munication with me. 

I think magnetism would be an excellent remedy in 
scorbutic affections, produced by bad air, by bad diet, by 
obstructed evacuations, &c. When this affection is con- 
stitutional, and has reached its last stage, if the cure is 
possible, it must at least be very difficult; but the magnetic 
action will greatly aid the power of medicine. The mag- 
netizer ought to employ an energetic and well-sustained 
action. 

Diseases of the eye are so numerous and so various, that 
they are become the special object of study with a class of 
physicians who attend exclusively to them, and who judge 
that the treatment takes a long time, and that the cure is 
very uncertain. I believe that magnetism is better suited to 
them than any other remedy, because it directs its action 
immediately upon the organ of vision, and penetrates into 
the brain. In most cases, it acts more efficaciously than 
bleeding, purgatives, and blisters. If the eyes are weak, it 
imparts to them strength. In ophthalmia, it dissipates the 
inflammation, by turning aside the humor which has a ten- 
dency to the eyes. In an incipient paralysis of the optic 
nerve, it would be well to restore motion and sensibility 
to it. 

I have many times seen cures effected, in a few days, of 
ophthalmias for which the most skilful oculists had judged 
it necessary to make a complicated treatment. The pro- 
cesses should be varied according to the nature of the 
disorder. If there is an inflammation, we should seek to 
lessen it, and draw it off; we establish the equilibrium. If 
there is want of action, (atonic,) we act directly upon the 
eyes by presenting the fingers united at the ends ; or, 
rather, we hold the thumbs over the eyes, and place the 
fingers upon the temple. It is expedient, in all cases, to 
bathe the eyes with magnetized water, which almost always 
excites a peculiar sensation. One might also, for a quarter 
of an hour, and several times a day, hold in his hand a 
bottle of magnetized water, presenting the mouth towards 
the eyes at the distance of a quarter of an inch.* 

* In speaking of magnetized water in another chapter, I forgot to 
point out this process, from which I have seen remarkable effects, 
especially in an inflammation in the interior of the nose. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 149 

When a disease of the eyes has reached a certain point, 
or when it springs from organic injury, it is plain we 
cannot succeed in the remedy. In the gutta screna, when 
blindness had been total for seven years, I have, at the end 
of fifteen days, restored the faculty of seeing the light, and 
of distinguishing certain objects. The pupil recovered its 
sensibility, which caused it to contract ; but I could go no 
further; and when I ceased to magnetize, at the end of six 
months of patient attention, the blindness returned by 
degrees. If the disease had not been of such long 
standing, it is probable that I should have succeeded in 
curing it. 

I do not think it would be possible to destroy a well- 
formed cataract; yet I saw, at Corbeil, a woman whose 
total blindness was attributed to a cataract, and who was 
cured in a fortnight. 

Opacities in the cornea of the eyes (tales) have been 
frequently made to disappear. I am acquainted with a 
woman whom this disorder, produced by the smallpox, had 
deprived of the use of one eye, and who recovered it while 
being magnetized for another disease. Here is another 
instance to prove that we may sometimes succeed by con- 
tinuing with patience, although at first we may have pro- 
duced no effect 

M. Paul Geritz, a physician and a professor in the Insti- 
tute Georgicon, at Keszthely, being at Pest, was consulted 
in relation to a girl eight or nine years of age, who, in 
consequence of the smallpox, had one eye entirely cov- 
ered with a film so thick that she could not see the light 
He judged, as did all the physicians who had been con- 
sulted, that, the disease being incurable by the ordinary 
means, it was useless to administer remedies; but, the 
child having inspired him with much interest, he resolved to 
undertake her treatment with magnetism. During two 
months, the action appeared absolutely powerless ; the third 
month, the film grew thinner; and in the succeeding one, 
the cure was complete. M. Geritz, during his recent visit 
to Paris, related this fact to me, and authorized me to 
cite it. 

For two months, I magnetized a young woman of seven- 
teen, who had had, ever since her birth, a film upon the 
right eye, and whose left eye was so feeble that she could 
13* 



150 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

not read or work by the light of a wax candle without 
much fatigue. The film was made considerably thinner, 
and I do not doubt that it would have entirely disappeared, 
if I had not been obliged to discontinue the treatment. As 
to the left eye, it acquired, and it has preserved for ten 
years, all the strength she could desire. 

Accidental deafness yields to or resists the magnetic 
treatment, according to the cause which produced it. 
The most appropriate process consists in directing the 
magnetism into the orifice of the ear by the fingers united 
to a point, and by blowing into it, to determine thither the 
currents. Deaf mutes have sometimes been^ successfully 
treated ; apparently when the deafness has originated in 
torpid action (atonie) or obstruction, and not in the ab- 
sence or the lesion of any essential parts of the organ.* As 
to buzzings and pains in the ear, they are often dissipated 
with surprising quickness. It is the same with the tooth- 
ache when nervous. 

I have not yet spoken of a class of diseases, some of 
which are chronic, others acute. These are cutaneous 
phlegmasias; as the smallpox, the measles, the chicken- 
pox, biles, ulcers or carbuncles, pimples in the face, scald 
head, &c. I believe magnetism a remedy for all. In the 
smallpox and the measles, it hastens and regulates the 
progress of the disease, and facilitates the eruptions. If by 
accident the eruptions strike in, which is very dangerous, 
it. makes them reappear. There are many instances 
of it. 

In biles, if you magnetize at the moment the inflam- 
mation commences, it is possible to reduce it, by facilitating 
the circulation and producing a slight crisis. If the bile 
is already formed, you may lessen the pains, and greatly 
hasten the maturity, by employing a local action. I have 
several times made the attempt with complete success. 
For a felon, we ought to make passes along the arm as far 

* In the establishments where there are together either deaf mutes 
or the blind at birth, it would be very useful if the physician would 
treat the sick magnetically, at first to cure them, then to find out 
what ideas are developed in those who become somnambulists, and 
what expression they give them. The result of this experiment, 
which does not present any difficulties, would certainly throw light 
upon physiology and psychology. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 151 

as the extremity of the finger, upon which we concentrate 
the action, and then draw it off from the end ; and if we 
make use of a soothing or a drawing cataplasm, we should 
take care to magnetize it well. For pimples in the face, 
we should employ the long passes, and repeat the passes 
over the legs. 

There are possibly cases wherein magnetism would not 
succeed in curing the scald head ; but it will always be 
well to try it before having recourse to medicinal remedies. 
I have seen a child of five or six years cured in two months, 
by the long passes, by the trough, (baquet,) and especially 
by magnetized water, which was a powerful drastic. 

It is probable that the use of magnetism in tetters, and 
similar affections, would be attended with good results, 
especially if magnetized water acts as a purgative. 

The state of pregnancy ought never to be an obstacle to 
the use of magnetism. In this state, it can even render the 
greatest service. It has often been known to remedy 
serious accidents, which occasioned fear of premature 
accouchement. It has also been seen to render the pains 
of childbirth more easy; which may be readily supposed 
from its increasing the strength, and quieting pains and 
nervous crises. 

I believe that, in the state of pregnancy, especially during 
the early months, passes ought not to be made along the 
thighs and the legs. They might give the blood a move- 
ment which it is important to avoid. 

After the birth has taken place, magnetism may still be 
of great utility, particularly in reestablishing the natural 
course of the milk, when it has been interrupted.* The 
choice of processes depends upon circumstances, and can 
be determined by the principles I have given. 

At the close of a very laborious accouchement, the newly- 
born child exhibits scarce any sign of life, because it has 
not strength to move the inspiratory muscles, which is 
necessary to establish the respiration. It would then 
perish for want of air, if people did not succeed in exciting 
this movement by various means ; such as frictions, and 

* It is plain that we should abstain from magnetism when we 
wish to let the milk dry up. 



152 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

the introduction of air into the lungs. M. Thiriat, Pro- 
fessor of Obstetrics, has ascertained by experience, that 
magnetism produces the desired effect very speedily. He 
has employed it by blowing upon the chest through a linen 
cloth. He supposes, with some reason, that the same 
means would be very efficacious in recalling persons to 
life in cases of asphyxia. [See "Bibliotheque Magnetiquc" 
torn. iv. p. 149.] 

Magnetism drives away most of the pains of children at 
the breast; it gives them strength, and favors the develope- 
ment of their organization. Mothers employ it by a nat- 
ural impulse when they see their children suffering, and 
succeed in soothing them. They would have much more 
success if they had entire confidence in the power with 
which nature has endowed them. 

In general, children are very sensible to the magnetic 
action. As soon as they have experienced benefit from it, 
they perceive that he who has magnetized them has the 
power of curing them by the processes they have seen him 
employ, and they are eager to demand the same assistance 
when they find themselves unwell. A child of five years, 
that I see every day, having been stung in the nose by a 
bee while T was walking with him, I took away the pain in 
a few minutes. Ever since that, he comes to ask me to 
cure him, whenever he has the slightest complaint. 

A physician who has, for eighteen months, followed the 
treatment of M. Wolfart, at Berlin, tells me that this cele- 
brated magnetizer used to have a sitting twice a week, for 
very young children ; that, after having placed around the 
trough the nurses and the mothers, who carry them in 
their arms, or hold them by the hand, he makes several 
passes over them, which the children regard with delight. 
He also told me that he did not recollect seeing any of 
them cry during the time of the sitting. Finally, he said 
that, at the hour of the treatment, the children that had 
been carried thither many times, testified, by their gestures 
and their cries, their desire of being conducted to the 
place again. 

Among the numerous facts which prove the speedy and 
efficacious action of magnetism upon children, I will 
record two, which I have verified. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 153 

A child of eighteen months, a girl, hid an orgdci, which 
caused her much inconvenience. Her father took her 
upon his knees, and magnetized her, putting his hand over 
her eyes. The child immediately fell asleep. One hour 
after, she awoke, and the orgekt had disappeared. 

Madame ***, of Chalons on the Marne, had a child of 
six years, whose bowels were extremely loose for a long 
time. All imaginable means had been employed to remedy 
this weakness. His mother at length began to magnetize 
him. At the first sitting, magnetism produced an extra- 
ordinary evacuation; at the second, there was another 
movement of the same kind ; and at. the third, the child 
was cured. She continued the treatment several days, 
without his experiencing any sensation ; and he has not 
since had the least symptoms of his complaint. 

Surprising effects have often been obtained by means of 
magnetism upon young persons who were rickety ; or who 
had defects of conformation, which seemed to demand, for 
a long time, the well -contrived mechanical means of our 
days, joined to internal remedies. An able physician 
related to me, that, after having attended unsuccessfully a 
young lady who had a considerable curvature of the spine, 
he made a trial of magnetism, and was much astonished 
to see, at the end of some months, the vertebral column 
restored to its proper position. 

I knew a girl, twelve years old, whose lumbar vertebrae 
formed a considerable projection; a respectable clergyman, 
who had first administered the communion service to her, 
advised her mother to magnetize her, and he charged him- 
self with the direction of the treatment. In a fortnight, the 
vertebras recovered their natural position. This girl had 
a fever, and internal pains for two years; she had consulted 
many physicians, and taken much medicine. Magnetism 
constantly relieved her, but it could not cure her. 

I saw, at Corbeil, a girl of fifteen years, who, from early 
infancy, had one leg shorter than the other by six inches, 
and a callosity at the hip as large as the fist. In six weeks 
of treatment, the callosity diminished one half, and the leg 
lengthened three inches ; at the same time, she recovered 
her strength. 

I will not say more in relation to the effects produced 
by magnetism in various diseases, and to the mode of ap- 



154 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

plication which I think preferable, according to circum- 
stances.* I return to general observations. 

I have said that, in order to succeed, we must unite con- 
fidence to will. But it is useful to be forewarned that the 
power which we employ has limits which we cannot pass. 
In many chronic diseases, known to be incurable, because 
they attack an essential organ, and have made much prog- 
ress, magnetism often produces a change which astonishes 
us, and after which we do not doubt that we have obtained 
mastery of the disease, and that it will be cured in a short 
time ; but the patient very soon relapses into his former 
state, and perishes at last. It is because magnetism, which 
cannot triumph over an organic affection in an advanced 
stage, dissipates at first the accessory diseases ; it gives 
strength, it restores sleep, it quiets the nerves, it puts an end 
to pains, it diminishes swellings; but the essential malady 
always exists; it afterwards reappears; magnetism has less 
influence, and the patient ordinarily loses all confidence. 
This is no reason for not making a trial of magnetism ; but 
it is a reason for not flattering ourselves, for not declaring 
as certain the cure of a long-seated disease, because we 
have produced in a few days a notable change, and an 
amelioration which we could not have obtained by all the 
medicinal remedies. 

Besides, there are many diseases which are constitutional, 
or which originate in the blood, or which principally attack 
the nerves. In these, magnetism may act beneficially with- 
out destroying the cause. We should not, therefore, expect 

* One of the founders of the Magnetic Society, which existed at 
Paris, and of which M. le Marquis de Puysegur was president, pro- 
poses to publish an exposition of all the cures effected in France 
from the time of Mesmer until the present. This work, the manu- 
script of which I have read, will form two octavo volumes, with 
analytic tables. The works from which its authorities are extracted 
make more than sixty volumes. One may therein find all that can 
throw light upon the kind of diseases, the mode of treatment, and 
the crises which have brought relief, or a cure. The compiler chiefly 
intended to give an account of cures made by physicians, or under 
their direction. The number of those who have given their testi- 
mony is more than two hundred and fifty. This collection of facts 
will save the trouble of searching for them in a great number of 
books, some of which are very difficult to find, and nearly all of 
which contain useless details, or theories more or less hypothetical. 
[This valuable work was published in 1826. — Trans.] 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 155 

more from it than it can perform. One would be wrong in 
supposing he might find a better magnetizer, or might suc- 
ceed by more active processes. It is necessary for the 
patient to know how to resign himself to living with his 
enemy, (as the vulgar saying is,) and for the magnetizer to 
have the courage to continue a treatment which does more 
good than any other, and is not attended with inconve- 
nience. Governing himself by the nature of the malady, one 
might cause himself to be magnetized a quarter of an hour 
daily, or not have recourse to magnetism, except when the 
need of it is felt. How many people of my acquaintance 
owe to magnetism a supportable existence, without flatter- 
ing themselves with the prospect of being restored to per- 
fect health ! 

It happens pretty frequently that, after having at first a 
very perceptible amelioration, magnetism ceases to act, or 
at least to manifest its action : then the patient becomes 
dissatisfied ; he renounces it, and has recourse to medicine. 
This is very prudent, in case he has not yet taken any ; 
but I ought to observe that I have never seen a disease, 
for which the resources of medicine have been exhausted, 
and which has afterwards been aided by magnetism, cured 
by new medicinal remedies, after the aid of magnetism has 
been renounced. 

On the contrary, a disease has been known to be weak- 
ened, and to be finally cured, by magnetism, after a very 
long time, when the patient dared no more to please him- 
self with the hope of restoration. I am going to cite an 
instance. 

A young" woman, very interesting, born in Paris, and 
married in one of the provincial towns, was for three years 
tormented by the tic douloureux. She had consulted sev- 
eral physicians; she had tried a great number of remedies, 
and made great use of Peruvian bark. Her stomach was 
in a very bad state. Having had an opportunity to see her 
during a journey which she made to Paris, I advised her to 
try magnetism, and I made trial of it for two months in 
succession. I put her asleep several times without pro- 
ducing somnambulism. I succeeded in driving off the 
pains when she had an attack, but I could never prevent 
their return. When she returned home, I made her hus- 
band engage to continue the treatment. During two years, 



156 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII. 

he magnetized her almost every day, without being able to 
cure her ; but the attacks became less frequent and less 
painful ; and the magnetized water, of which she made 
constant use, rendered her digestion very easy. Finally, 
at the end of four years, she was, by the perseverance of 
her husband, restored to perfect health. 

The subject of which I have just treated is susceptible 
of great developement. When able physicians shall have 
studied magnetism, they will be able to give us new light 
upon the modifications which the seat and the symptoms of 
different diseases require in the application of this agent. 
Nevertheless, the details into which I have entered appear 
to me sufficient for the direction of persons who wish to 
employ their faculties in the doing of good. If I have 
sought to inspire confidence, I have taken still more care 
to maintain that confidence within the limits of prudence. 
By following the plan I have traced out, no one will have 
cause to repent having made use of magnetism as an auxil- 
iary to medicine. 

It remains for me to make two observations, one of which 
is applicable to all the severe diseases which have been 
cured by magnetism ; and the other to those in which it 
has exerted a great influence. 

I have said that, when one has restored health to a 
patient, and when the convalescence has terminated, it is 
necessary to cease magnetizing. But people have remarked, 
in many diseases, that, a year after the cure, they have 
experienced disagreeable feelings, or some symptoms which 
rouse their concern lest the cause of the disease may not 
have been entirely destroyed. When, therefore, we have 
ended the treatment of one of these diseases, I think it a 
very prudent precaution to have recourse anew to magnet- 
ism for a fortnight, when about a year has elapsed since 
the termination of the treatment which brought on the 
cure. This is not always necessary ; but, in the uncer- 
tainty, you would do well to follow this rule, especially if 
you are not far from the magnetizer to whom you owe 
your restoration. 

When magnetism has established a communication be- 
tween the magnetizer and the person magnetized ; when the 
latter has entered into the state which we call the magnetic. 
state; and, above all, when he is a somnambulist, — there 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 157 

is no doubt that the magnetizer may act upon him at a 
distance, if he makes a vigorous effort to that end. I ought 
to observe that the exercise of this power exacts the great- 
est precautions, and that we never should permit ourselves 
to make use of it for mere experiment. It is, without doubt, 
very curious to try whether we can make our action per- 
ceptible to one who is distant from us, and who is not con- 
scious of our attempt ; but it may be attended with many 
inconveniences ; it may even give rise to mischievous re- 
sults. When there is no somnambulism, the inconvenience 
is to excite demi-crises, which we can neither develope or 
sustain. Upon him who is susceptible of somnambulism, 
there is danger of producing that state when the patient is 
with persons who are not in communication with him, and 
who, by touching him, or by seeking to awaken him, may 
do him injury. I have said that he who would magnetize 
ought to free himself from all curiosity ; and it is, in this 
case especially, highly requisite to make the application of 
this principle. 

Yet there are cases when the magnetizer should make 
use of the faculty which he has of magnetizing from a dis- 
tance ; but this should be after having taken all the proper 
precautions, and never through motives of curiosity. Your 
patient has sharp pains ; you presume they will prevent 
his sleeping at night ; you have discovered that you can 
assuage these pains by your presence : occupy yourself 
with him, and magnetize him by the thought, with the sole 
intention of soothing him ; it is probable you will succeed 
in it. If your patient is a somnambulist, ask him, when in 
the somnambulic state, if you could do him any good by 
acting upon him at such an hour. If he makes you engage 
to do it, then take the proper precautions, so that nothing 
may interrupt him ; tell him at what hour he ought to be 
alone, or with the person who is accustomed to assist at 
the sittings, and to whom you have imparted your intention. 
Thenceforth you have nothing to fear, and somnambulism, 
brought on at the hour when nature has need of it, will do 
him much good. But people will say that somnambulism 
has been brought on by the imagination of the patient, and 
not by my thought and by my will. People will say nothing 
about it ; for you ought not to tell any one of the phenom- 
ena, at least until after the cure. But I should not know 
14 



158 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VII.. 

myself whether I have really acted upon him. Of what 
consequence is that ? Do you magnetize in order to con- 
vince yourself, or to cure your patient 1 If to cure him, it 
is indifferent whether you cure him by your own influence, 
or by that of his imagination. Besides, you have no need 
of searching for extraordinary phenomena to fortify your 
own faith ; and if you have a somnambulist very susceptible, 
chance will offer you so many wonderful facts, so many 
convincing proofs, as to astonish you. Once more : When 
you magnetize, it is not for yourself; it is solely for the 
patient who has delivered himself over to your care, your 
benevolence, and your affection. 

It has frequently happened that a magnetizer has con- 
tinued the treatment of a somnambulist, who had been 
obliged to separate from him, and that the patient has 
written, while in the somnambulic state, a detail of his 
crises, and what must be done to finish the cure.* This 
will always succeed with a prudent magnetizer and a docile 
somnambulist. But if the precautions have been badly 
taken, if the magnetizer neglects to occupy himself with 
his patient at the appointed hours, it would be better, a 
hundred times, to break the communication, and abandon 
the patient to nature. 

With many subjects we may renew somnambulism by 
means of a magnetized object. This facilitates the action 
of the magnetizer, but it does not dispense with the neces- 
sity of thinking about the patient in order to sustain and 
regulate the crisis. 

They who are not acquainted with the phenomena of 
magnetism w r ill consider as absurd what I have just said ; 
but they who have once recognized in themselves the in- 
fluence they can exert upon their somnambulists would be 
exposed to commit imprudences, if I did not warn them of 
the danger. It is, therefore, my duty to make known what 
I know to be the truth, without troubling myself about the 
opinions of the incredulous. I do not ask of the persons 
to whom I address this instruction to take my word for 



* I possess several letters written in a state of somnambulism. 
They are much superior to those which the same persons write in 
their ordinary state, not only as it respects depth of thought, but 
also elegance of style and choice of expression. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS CONNECTION WITH MEDICINE. 159 

the reality of the extraordinary phenomena. I merely 
request them to follow the advice I give them, whenever 
these phenomena present themselves. 



.NOTE. 

A physician of the faculty of Paris has just sent me an obser- 
vation which I think it useful to publish, because it relates to a 
disease of which I have not made mention. 

A constant vertigo and an accidental chorea cured by mag- 
netism. — Mademoiselle S***, aged thirty-eight years, experi- 
enced, on the 17th of October, a violent fright, which suddenly 
changed the state in which she was, by producing a suppression. 
T ^enty-four hours after, there were heaviness in the lumbar 
regions and in the lower parts of the abdomen, headache, loss 
of appetite, irregular motion in the arm and the leg on the right 
side. These motions greatly resembled the Saint Vitus's dance. 
The physician employed, for the space of three months, all the ap- 
propriate remedies, — leeches, sedatives, antispasmodics, sulphate 
of quinine, &c. He considered the stomach and the abdomen to 
be better ; but he could not succeed in dissipating the vertigo, in 
reestablishing the course of the blood, or in quieting the ner- 
vous motions. The patient, who was much afflicted, demanded 
whether magnetism would not be useful in these circumstances. 
The physician advised her to try it. He ceased giving medi- 
cines, and recommended her to live temperately. They com- 
menced magnetizing her in the middle of January, only three 
times a week, and twelve or fifteen minutes at a sitting. The 
patient drank nothing but magnetized water. At the beginning 
of February > the nervous symptoms were gradually disappearing, 
and totally disappeared by the middle of the month. The patient 
recovered her freshness and gayety, the blood retook its natural 
course, and in the month of March her health was restored. 



160 



CHAPTER VIII. 



OF THE INCONVENIENCES, THE ABUSES, AND THE 

DANGERS, OF MAGNETISM, AND OF THE 

MEANS OF PREVENTING THEM. 

I 

The opposers of magnetism, after declaring that it does 
not exist, have declaimed against the dangers which attend 
it. I will not stop to prove that what they have said of the 
processes employed to put it in action, and of the effects it 
produces, is very far from the truth, and that the anecdotes 
they have cited to render it odious are entirely foreign to 
it. I agree that magnetism has been sometimes abused, 
and is still liable to be abused again. But a danger ceases 
to be important when we are warned of it, and have easy 
and certain means of avoiding it. Magnetism is an agent 
of inconceivable power. Its utility depends upon the way 
in which it is employed ; and in this it is like fire, the use 
of which is not interdicted for fear of conflagration. 

They who will conform to the directions laid down in 
the preceding chapters, will never have occasion to fear 
the least inconvenience from the "use of magnetism. Yet, 
as many of my readers may not see the importance of the 
precautions I have recommended ; as others may be alarmed 
by what has been said of the bad consequences of some 
treatments; as others, finally, may reproach me with having 
misstated the motives of those who condemn magnetism, — 
I think it proper to devote an article to recapitulate and 
develope what has been said on this subject. I would 
rather fall into repetitions than leave the least uncertainty 
about things which are essential. I am now going to point 
out the inconveniences, the abuses, and the dangers, of 
magnetism; and I will show that all, without exception, 
will be infallibly avoided by applying the principles which 
I have established. 

To obtain more order and clearness in this discussion, I 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 161 

will consider magnetism under three points of view ; and 
I will speak, first, of the moral dangers which may attend 
the practice ; secondly, of the disorder which a wrong di- 
rection of this agent, or the want of some essential condi- 
tions, may produce in the animal economy ; thirdly, of the 
inconveniences which spring from a blind confidence in 
somnambulists, and from the erroneous opinions to which a 
person is sometimes conducted by a sight of extraordinary 
phenomena, 

1. — Of the Moral Dangers of Magnetism, and of the 
Means of obviating them. 

In describing the processes, I said that we might employ 
light frictions, the application of the hands upon the chest, 
upon the heart, upon the knees, blowing with the mouth, 
looking steadily at the patient, &c. ; but I also said that 
these processes, pointed out as the most active, may be laid 
aside for others, which, sustained by the will and the atten- 
tion, will be equally efficacious. When a man is desired 
to magnetize a woman who is ill, he ought to avoid what- 
ever may wound the most scrupulous modesty, or cause the 
least embarrassment, and even whatever might to a spectator 
seem improper. He will not place himself directly in front 
of the person whom he intends to magnetize ; he will not 
request her to look at him; he will merely ask her to 
abandon herself entirely to the influence of the action ; 
he will take her thumbs during some moments, and he will 
then make passes at a distance, without touching her. It 
is unnecessary to observe that some one of the family, or a 
female friend, ought always to be present 

If the magnetic processes are attended with any incon- 
veniences, it is neither in society, where one is obliged to 
avoid impropriety of conduct, nor in the public treatments, 
where all things are ordered in a decent manner. It is in 
the hospitals, — and I ought to fix the attention of superin- 
tending physicians upon this point ; not that they should 
restrain the employment of this salutary agent, but that they 
should direct and oversee the method of employing it ; for 
it will be their fault if any thing reprehensible should be 
mingled with the good which ought to be derived from it. 
I will explain. 

14* 



162 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VIIJ. 

Physicians and medical students attached to the hospitals 
are now beginning to try the action of magnetism. They 
choose, in preference, young women or young girls attacked 
with nervous diseases, because they believe them more 
susceptible, and more likely to present curious phenomena. 
As they are accustomed to touch indiscriminately all the 
patients, either to ascertain the seat of disease, or to dress 
their wounds and ulcers, and as they never have any other 
idea than that of fulfilling the duties with which they are 
charged, they do not suspect that the magnetic processes 
demand a particular reserve, and precautions taken before- 
hand to banish every thing which might act upon their 
imagination or upon that of the patient. I am willing to 
believe that they respect themselves so much as never to 
permit the least thing injurious to modesty, and to repel 
every thought foreign to the end proposed ; but the very 
effort which is made to chase away an intrusive idea turns 
one aside from the object which alone ought to occupy the 
attention. They ought, therefore, to distrust themselves ; to 
dread equally the impressions which they can experience, 
and those which they can produce ; and to take measures 
in advance, so that nothing shall trouble the purity of an 
influence which has, at the same time, both a physical and 
a moral effect. 

These are the counsels which I ought to give in relation 
to this subject, until magnetism is so generally known, 
established, and practised, as to render them unneces- 
sary. 

When a physician intends to magnetize a woman who 
keeps her bed, the clothes ought to be kept over her. If 
she can rise, she ought to be clad in the most decent man- 
ner. The physician will not touch her except to take her 
thumbs, or to make frictions along the feet outside of her 
garments. All the passes will be made at a distance. It 
is often necessary to concentrate the action upon an organ ; 
for example, upon the solar plexus, the liver, or the spleen. 
In this case, he will present the fingers brought to a point, 
or else he will make use of a glass or steel rod, in order to 
avoid touching. It would be proper to have a nurse near 
the bed during the sitting. No person should enter the 
room. The magnetizer should not permit himself to make 
any experiment ; and, if he obtains somnambulism, he will 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 163 

ask the patient only about her disease, and the means of 
curing it. He will give an account to the chief physician 
of the results of the treatment. 

It may happen that a nurse, endowed with intelligence 
and kindness, may perceive, with her own eyes, the effi- 
cacy of magnetism, and feel the desire and the power of 
doing good. In this case, the magnetizer will excite her 
confidence, and get her to take his place after giving her 
suitable instructions how to proceed. He will always rec- 
ommend to her not to speak of it. The time is not yet 
arrived for nurses to consider the exercise of magnetism as 
one of their most important functions. 

I have here spoken of the employment of this agent in 
the hospitals merely because several trials have been re- 
cently made of it there.* I suppose that, if the young phy- 
sicians continue to occupy themselves with it, they will not 
neglect to learn the conditions essential to the success of 
the trials which they would make to furnish a powerful 
auxiliary to therapeutic medicine. 

Let us return to the employment of magnetism in society. 
The precautions already pointed out will suffice to banish 
all the inconveniences attending it, when it is merely in- 
tended to make use of it several days, and when neither 
somnambulism nor magnetic sleep presents itself. But 
there must necessarily be many others in chronic com- 
plaints which appear to require a very long treatment, and 
whose cure is preceded by crises and by a decided mag- 
netic state. 

In these kinds of diseases, magnetism between persons of 
different sexes ought to be proscribed, unless the principles 
and morals of the two individuals prevent the fear of an 
improper influence. The only men who can undertake the 
treatment of a young woman are the father or the husband. 
I have told the reason in another place. I think it useless 
to go into greater details. I ought only to point out the 
exceptions to what I have given as a general rule. 

* It is now used in them very extensively in many parts of Eu- 
rope. Sir David Brewster says that the medical colleges in Ger- 
many have professors whose business it is to deliver lectures on this 
subject, in its connection with medicine. I have learned the same 
fact from an intelligent German, and from several travellers. — 
Trans. 



164 MEANS OF AVOIDING [cHAP. VIII. 

These are to be sought in the advanced age of one of 
the parties, and in the difference of circumstances in which 
they are found. 

I foresee that some one will seek to put me in contra- 
diction with myself. " You have," says one, " a hundred 
times uttered the wish that physicians only would make use 
of magnetism ; how, then, can women be magnetized unless 
by men 1 " This is my reply : — 

It is to be desired that experienced physicians only 
should be charged with the direction of the magnetic treat- 
ments ; but it is one thing to have the direction of a treat- 
ment, and another to perform the manipulatory processes. 

A physician might gather round a magnetic reservoir a 
great number of sick persons of all ages and of each sex, 
and devote his cares to each one according to circum- 
stances ; yet he cannot charge himself with a direct treat- 
ment, but by observing all the proprieties, by banishing all 
the possible dangers, and preventing even ill-founded sus- 
picions. He must, therefore, cause another person to take 
his place to magnetize a female patient, and choose for 
this purpose a woman instructed by him how to proceed, 
and having equally the confidence of himself and of the 
patient. 

I say more : When magnetism shall be generally recog- 
nized, when it shall become an essential part of medicine, — 
and this time is, perhaps, not far distant, — the physician who 
has an extensive practice will have two treatments, one for 
men, and another for women. He will thus avoid affording 
occasion for improper remarks. 

As magnetism establishes confidence and friendship be- 
tween the magnetizer and the patient, the precaution of 
interdicting the use of it between persons of different sexes 
is not the only one to be taken, especially in regard to 
young persons, being, as they are, more susceptible of new 
impressions. If the father or the mother cannot themselves 
magnetize their son or their daughter, they ought to know 
the character and the principles of the person who performs 
the office for them, not only because opinions are commu- 
nicated by intimacy, but because, in long treatments, and 
particularly when somnambulism occurs, the magnetizer 
will at length, even without his own knowledge, exert a 
moral influence capable of modifying the temper, the sen- 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 165 

tiraents, and the principles, of him to whom he restores 
health. As to the rest, persons who, without any selfish 
motive, undertake the treatment of a disease, are urged by 
the desire of doing good ; and charity supposes almost all 
the virtues. 

What has been related of the dependence which som- 
nambulists have upon their magnetizer, has given rise to 
ill-founded prejudices against somnambulism. But this 
dependence is only relative. It has necessary limits, and 
cannot have the consequences which some have dreaded. 
The somnambulist preserves his reason, and the use of his 
will. When he perceives that the magnetizer designs his 
benefit, he yields to him ; and, fortified by him, he deter- 
mines to vanquish a bad habit, to resist an inclination or 
an injurious fantasy, to take a medicine to which he feels 
a repugnance, and which he has judged necessary. He 
profits by the ascendency of the latter to work for himself, 
and to put himself in an advantageous position, which may 
be continued in the waking state. Sometimes he obeys 
the orders of his magnetizer in things that are indifferent, 
because the desire of satisfying him predominates over the 
reluctance which he experiences; but the magnetizer could 
not obtain from him either the revelation of a secret which 
it is his duty or his interest to conceal, nor things essen- 
tially contrary to the principles of honesty, to which he is 
attached in the common state. A reprehensible act of 
volition would cause him to revolt, and throw him into 
convulsions.* 

The experiments which have been made to show that 
one could make somnambulists obey his will, have always 

* M. Passavant expresses himself thus, citing, in support of his 
opinions, several remarkable facts : — 

" Exterior agents may, in spite of ourselves, carry disorder into 
our physical organization ; but our moral constitution depends only 
upon our will. Thus, so long as a man wills to be free, he remains 
so in somnambulism as much as in the ordinary state. One might 
wound or kill, but he could not demoralize, a human being without 
his consent." 

Yet suppose the possibility of a lethargic somnambulism, and the 
existence of a being sufficiently depraved to take advantage of it ; we 
need not inquire whether any damage might result, if we observe 
the rule laid down above, — that a woman, when magnetized, ought 
always to have a female friend near her. 



166 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VIII. 

been experiments of curiosity, without any moral danger, 
but very imprudent, since they fatigue the patients useless- 
ly, and may prevent their restoration. People will abso- 
lutely interdict them when magnetism shall be so well 
known as not to astonish by its phenomena, and when they 
are well convinced that it is a sort of profanation to employ 
for amusement a faculty which God has given us to do 
good to our fellow-creatures. 

I will finish this article by a remark worthy of attention. 
It is, that, among those who are induced by curiosity to at- 
tempt magnetism, some renounce it as soon as their curi- 
osity is satisfied ; and some, on the contrary, attach them- 
selves more and more to the practice, as their curiosity is 
extinguished. These last are captivated solely by the 
pleasure of doing good. The enjoyments of the mind are 
enfeebled by the loss of novelty; those of the heart become 
more lively the longer we have enjoyed them. The source 
of the last is inexhaustible. 

2. — Of the Dangers that may occur to the Animal 
Economy, either by the Abuse or the Misapplication of 
Magnetism, and of the Means of avoiding them. 

Those who have wished to inspire the fear of employing 
this agent as a curative means, have based their obser- 
vations upon very specious reasoning, which would be 
unjust if applied to ordinary medicine. Since magnetism 
has a very powerful action, they have said that this action 
ought to be salutary or injurious, according to the nature 
of the disease. If it is a tonic, it will augment the evil 
when there is too much excitement ; if it is soothing, it 
can produce no good results in a torpid state of the system. 

The defenders of this agent have answered that it can- 
not be compared to medicines which have in themselves a 
determinate property. Magnetism, say they, acts upon 
the whole system ; it seconds the efforts which nature is 
making to throw off the principle of the disease. If it 
soothes, it is by reestablishing the equilibrium ; if it 
strengthens, it is by recalling the vital fluid into the organs 
in which there is a deficiency. 

The answer is dictated by the theory which is most ap- 
parently true ; and I think that if magnetism were em- 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 167 

ployed in all its purity, and freed from all extraneous prin- 
ciples, it could not in any case be injurious. 

Some privileged beings exist who are endowed with a 
lively faith, which never hesitates; with a confidence exempt 
from pride; with a charity so expansive that they foiget 
themselves, and are identified with the suffering being. 
The union of these qualities puts them into a state for 
employing this agent, during which they are directed by 
an instinct more sure than all the calculations of reason. 
The power of their soul predominates over all the interior 
forces of the patient. It excites or soothes them at will. 
Their action, sometimes insufficient, will be always more 
or less salutary. But I ought here to consider magnetism 
as it can be practised at the present time, and by the per- 
sons to whom this instruction is addressed. 

Let us not, then, dwell upon an abstract theory. Let us 
consult experience, to know if, in certain circumstances, 
magnetism has not done some evil. Let us listen to those 
physicians who condemn the use of it, not to dispute with 
them, but to profit by whatever truth may be found in the 
motives of their opinion. Innumerable facts, collected for 
forty years, have demonstrated in general the curative 
power of magnetism. But has it not sometimes produced 
effects contrary to what people have desired to obtain ? If 
it be true that it has, we must examine in what circum- 
stances they have occurred, to what causes they ought to be 
attributed, and what precautions we ought to take to pre- 
vent the recurrence hereafter. 

I am persuaded there is hardly a disease which, by itself, 
is of a nature to be aggravated by magnetism properly em- 
ployed. But it may happen that magnetism does not agree 
with this or with that individual, either because of peculiar 
temperament; or because there exists no sympathy be- 
tween him and the magnetizer; cr because the latter has 
too strong an action, which produces trouble; or because 
the action is too feeble, so that it induces a struggle in 
which it cannot triumph; or because he does not know the 
mode of application which is useful. In these circum- 
stances, it is prudent not obstinately to struggle against 
obstacles, unless the patient is forced by a kind of instinct 
to demand its continuance. There are certain persons on 
whom magnetism causes a nervous irritation. When this 



168 MEANS OP AVOIDING [CHAP. VIII. 

is perceived, it would be well to magnetize at a distance, 
with the intention of soothing, and withdraw one's self 
gradually from one end of the apartment to another ; you 
will even draw off the fluid by transversal passes ; you will 
not give yourself any uneasiness ; but you will stop if you 
do not make a state of calmness succeed this first nervous 
shock. We know by the somnambulists that, in certain 
cases, magnetism ought to be employed with much reserve, 
and that its application ought to vary according to circum- 
stances, either in the degree of force, in the duration of 
the sittings, or in the choice of the processes. When there 
is an exaltation of the nervous system, it is prudent to 
moderate, or even to suspend, the action. 

The species of nervous irritation of which I have spoken, 
does not in the least resemble the pains which magnetism 
produces or renews in an affected organ. These pains 
prove the action of magnetism, and result from its efforts 
to expel the principle of disease ; and they often make 
known the seat of it. It is customary to continue these 
critical pains for a certain time, and to calm them as well 
as we can before the end of the sitting. You may expect 
to see them renewed at the following sitting, and some- 
times in the intervals, until there is no longer an obstruction 
to the free circulation of the fluid ; and you need not be 
affrighted on account of them. In palsy, magnetism often 
excites lively pains, because it reestablishes sensibility in 
the limbs before restoring movement to them. 

This leads me to speak of a real danger, — the interruption 
of a treatment commenced, and the omission to sustain a 
crisis which has been excited, and which nature cannot 
develope and terminate without being aided by magnetism. 
This danger is nothing in slight and recent indispositions; 
but it is very serious in organic and long-standing diseases. 
A person might do much mischief by magnetizing with 
energy only once to drive off an internal pain caused by a 
tumor, or by a humor which, for many years, attacks an 
organ at certain periods. When a person has deranged a 
movement which was established, or excited a contrary 
movement, it is necessary to regulate it so that it may not 
bring on any disorder. The accidents which have oc- 
curred by the rude interruption of a treatment ought not 
to be attributed to magnetism, but to the imprudence of 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 169 

the magnetizer. I shall make myself better understood by 
citing two examples. The first is that of a lady who for 
twelve years had a violent headache every month. One 
day, when I was at her house, and she was suffering much, 
I relieved her of the attack in half an hour. The following 
month, the headache having returned, she sent for me. I 
relieved her as before. The next day she was very well ; 
but two days afterwards she had insupportable pains in the 
body. She was attacked with a violent fever, which lasted 
six weeks, and of which she was cured by ordinary medi- 
cine. Since that time she has not had a return of the 
headache. I do not doubt that this acute disease was pro- 
duced by the humor displaced by me; and that it would 
not have taken place, if, when I drove off the headache at 
first, I had continued to magnetize her for a month, in 
order to produce some crisis. 

The second fact is still more remarkable. It clearly 
proves that one ought not to permit himself to attempt the 
action of magnetism, except when he is sure of continuing 
it as long as it is necessary. 

A girl of sixteen, who lived in the country, having had a 
fall, experienced, for several months, pains in the head, and 
became completely blind, having the gutta screna. Per- 
sons who took much interest in her caused her to be 
placed under the care of able oculists. She was sent 
forthwith to the Hotel Dieu, where all the remedies were 
essayed. She was finally declared incurable; and, as her 
parents were without fortune, she was sent to the Salpe- 
triere. She was there for three years, when a medical 
student, who was magnetizing a lady, proposed to her to 
come to the house of that lady, telling her he had hopes of 
curing her. She accepted the offer with gratitude; and 
some of her acquaintances undertook to see that she was 
attended thither every day. She came then to the lady's 
house, and he who had offered her his cares magnetized 
her with energy for an hour, by putting his hands upon 
her head. She experienced an extraordinary sensation, 
which, nevertheless, was not painful ; but the following 
night she was attacked with violent pains in the head. 
She returned to the house of the lady, but she did not find 
the magnetizer, who had left word that unexpected circum- 
stances obliged him to suspend the treatment. The pains 
15 



170 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VIII. 

increased from day to day. They finally became insup- 
portable, and were accompanied with a fever, which con- 
tinued every evening and a part of the night. The poor 
girl was sent to the infirmary, where many remedies were 
administered to her without effect. She was eleven months 
in this suffering condition, when some one requested me 
to magnetize her. She came to my house every day. I 
employed magnetism by the long pass, and made passes 
along the legs, which became at first so benumbed that 
she could not move them. After five sittings, she was 
restored; and, since that period, she has enjoyed good 
health, excepting her blindness. 

This is the same girl whose treatment I continued for 
nearly a year, because the effects which I had produced 
after the cessation of the pains made me hope to restore 
her sight. I spoke of this in the preceding chapter. It is 
evident that the pains in the head were critical pains, pro- 
duced by magnetism, and that they would have ceased in 
a few days, if the crisis had been sustained. Perhaps, at 
that time, vision might have been restored. 

In certain organic diseases which are very severe and 
long-seated, the efforts of nature to take a new direction 
may produce the most painful and alarming crises. If the 
magnetizer is frightened, if he interrupts the action, the 
patient runs the risk of succumbing. In these cases, 
happily very rare, it would be necessary to have a somnam- 
bulist sufficiently clairvoyant to announce the crises, to 
describe the manner of developing them, and the results 
which they ought to have. The magnetizer would be 
equally assured, if he were directed by a physician versed 
in the knowledge of magnetism. If this aid be wanting, 
I can only recommend confidence and courage. I have 
seen the interruption or the false direction of a treatment 
have, in the course of time, the most fatal consequences ; 
but I have never seen a serious accident follow a violent 
crisis, the developement of which has not been hindered. 

Many persons fear that magnetism excites nervous com- 
motions, and even convulsions, because they recall to mind 
the effects which were produced at first by Mesmer. But 
at the time when Mesmer connected patients for the first 
time around the baquet, he knew neither the means of 
directing the agent that he employed, nor of calming the 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 171 

crises ; and since 1784, the true principles of magnetism 
being well known, the scenes which once made so much 
noise are no longer reproduced. But it is well to say here 
in what case nervous crises may occur, and how all their 
inconveniences may be avoided. 

Magnetism really produces nervous crises in disorders of 
the nervous system ; but they are necessary for the cure ; 
they are the consequences of the efforts of nature to change 
a bad direction, and reestablish the equilibrium. The 
magnetizer does not interrupt them ; he calms them by a 
soothing action, and by his will. Let him not be troubled, 
— let him have patience and the desire of doing good, — and 
after the crisis the patient will find himself better than 
before. It is very essential to know that magnetism renews 
attacks which it gives the strength to support ; but it accel- 
erates the progress, to destroy the cause of the disease. 

Magnetism also excites nervous motions when people 
make use of it out of curiosity, to exert its power, or to 
obtain singular effects ; when its action is concentrated upon 
the head, or when an extraordinary force is employed sud- 
denly, while the subject resists the action ; when, instead of 
being tranquil, the operator is himself agitated. Do not 
magnetize unless you are yourself in a state of calm, and 
nothing disturbs the employment of your faculties. Employ 
your force gradually. Have no other desire than that of 
curing, and you will never excite the least trouble in the 
one you magnetize. 

If, in a treatment wherein several persons unite in a 
chain, or around a magnetic reservoir, a nervous crisis 
displays itself, the patient attacked by it should be instantly 
taken from the chain, and led to another place, that he may 
be calmed. It is known that nervous attacks are commu- 
nicated by imitation or by sympathy ; and this is a reason 
for not exposing the other patients to them. 

I ought here to reiterate a condition essential to the suc- 
cess of every treatment; namely, that the magnetizer must 
be in good health. Rheumatic pains, nervous affections, 
and especially organic diseases, are communicated from the 
magnetizer to the person magnetized, with facility propor- 
tioned to the thoroughness of the communication between 
them. In the state of disease, the vital fluid may be vitiated, 
or at least morbific principles may be thrown off with it. I 



172 MEANS OF AVOIDING [GHAP. VIII. 

will add, that in the magnetic communication there is estab- 
lished a sympathy between the similar organs of the two 
individuals ; whence it follows that a person whose lungs 
are delicate, cannot, without danger, magnetize any one 
whose lungs are affected.* 

Hitherto I have spoken only of the dangers to which we 
are exposed in magnetizing, without precautions, persons 
who are not somnambulists. Those which spring from 
somnambulism are still greater. To avoid them, it is ne- 
cessary to know them, and I will, therefore point them out. 

I have just said that a magnetizer whose health is essen- 
tially bad may communicate the disease to the person whom 
he magnetizes. This thing is especially to be feared in 
somnambulism. I have several times seen the proof of it. 
I will merely recite a fact which- struck me forcibly. A 
young lady who for a long time had a very serious ner- 
vous disease, was magnetized by a friend of her family, 
who rendered her a somnambulist the first day. She very 
soon had favorable crises, and her health appeared to be 
sensibly ameliorated. She flattered herself with the pros- 
pect of obtaining a complete cure, when her magnetizer was 
attacked with an inflammation of the larynx. As he could 
no longer go out of his own house, he sent every evening 
to the patient a magnetized handkerchief, which renewed 
somnambulism for two hours. The young lady was very 
soon attacked with the same disease, accompanied by the 
most alarming symptoms. Happily, another magnetizer 
came to her aid — a circumstance which did not prevent her 
from being in the greatest danger when the former one 
died. And it was only after a very long treatment, and 
making use of all the remedies which her clairvoyance sug- 
gested, that she was perfectly reestablished in health. 

I will not here return to the accidents that may result 
from temporary imprudences ; I confine myself to a succinct 
summary of what I have said on this subject. Never in- 
terrupt a crisis. Do not suffer your somnambulist to be 
touched by any one who is not in communication with him* 

* The magnetizer who enjoys good health sometimes sympathet- 
ically experiences the pains of his patient, but he does not catch the 
principles of the disease ; the reason of which is, that, as he throws 
the fluid from himself, he is active, and not passive ; he gives, and 
does not receive.. 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 173 

Do not put him in communication with any one, except it 
be for some good purpose, and ivhtn he desires it. Avoid 
magnetizing him in presence of many persons. Occupy 
yourself solely with his health, Follow the processes 
which he indicates to you. Do not fatigue him with cxper* 
iments. If you neglect these precautions, you will diminish 
his lucidity, retard his cure, and do him an injury. Yet 
this injury may be ordinarily repaired by proper cares; and 
the greater part of magnetizers are not instructed on this 
point by their own experience. 

The dangers of which I am about to speak are, happily, 
much less frequent. They are not caused by a momentary 
fault of the magnetizer, but by the abuse of his own power. 
They are, with some individuals, the natural consequences 
of somnambulism ; and, as they are very serious and diffi* 
cult to remedy, the magnetizer ought to conduct himself in 
such a manner as infallibly to prevent them. 

Persons who have been for a long time somnambulists 
have been known to preserve, even after their restoration 
to health, a nervous susceptibility which renders them im- 
pressible in the highest degree ; and the slightest action of 
magnetism may cause them to fall again into an imperfect 
somnambulism. Some of them have been seen to be habit- 
ually in a magnetic state. This is a great inconvenience, and 
you must avoid it by observing the following directions : — 

Do not magnetize your somnambulist any longer than he 
tells you it is necessary. Never speak to him, after he 
awakes, of what he said in somnambulism. In terminating 
each sitting, disembarrass him of the fluid with which he is 
charged, and wake him perfectly, so that there may be no 
intermediate point between the ordinary and the somnam- 
bulic state. As soon as your patient is cured, refrain ab- 
solutely from the desire of preserving in him the somnam* 
bulic faculties; will, on the contrary, that they cease, until 
a new complaint renders them useful to him. Somnambu- 
lists who are no longer ill are generally poor somnambu- 
lists ; and the tendency to somnambulism is not in accord- 
ance with the ordinary habits of life. Many magnetizers 
preserve somnambulists after their cure, and they hope 
through them to render service to other patients ; but it is 
wrong to have confidence in such somnambulists. They 
are often made use of for experiments of curiosity. They 
15* 



174 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. THJL 

are exhibited to persons who interrogate them upon various 
subjects. All this does no good. It does not even convince 
the incredulous ; and this presents many inconveniences. 

I know that some exceptions to this rule may be cited y 
and that somnambulists, when thoroughly cured, have been 
known to preserve, for many years, a surprising clairvoy- 
ance. This phenomenon is very infrequent. It has its 
source in moral and physical dispositions, independent of the 
magnetizer's influence, since persons who have never been 
magnetized have been seen to be naturally in a state simi- 
lar to that of the most extraordinary magnetic somnambu- 
lists; but this state demands so much management, and re- 
quires so much prudence, discretion, and disinterestedness,, 
to derive advantage from it, that a wise man will not seek 
to produce it, or to sustain it by magnetic action. 

But the inconveniences of a somnambulism too much 
prolonged, and made almost habitual, are nothing, compared 
to the dangers to which one is exposed by turning somnam- 
bulism aside from the single end to which it should be 
directed ; that is, by exciting the faculties of somnambulists 
to obtain of them surprising things, from which they can 
derive no advantage, either to their health, or to the per- 
fecting of their moral qualities. There is not the least 
doubt that such an abuse of magnetism may carry trouble 
into the nervous system, and derange the imagination. If 
you exact of your somnambulist things which are difficult 
and contrary to his will ; if you should wish to act upon him 
in such a manner as to make him see the dead or spirits ; if 
you compel him to go into distant times or places, to discover 
things lost, or to announce the future, to tell you what 
numbers will be fortunate in a lottery — a thing which he 
knows no better than you ; if you interrogate him about po- 
litical affairs, &c, — you will do him much mischief, and 
might even make him idiotic. If this should occur, it will 
be your own fault; it ought not to be attributed to mag- 
netism, but wholly to your temerity. Somnambulism will 
never produce the least disorder when not abused ; and we 
are sure of not abusing it when we employ it solely for the 
purpose of learning the means of doing good to the somnam- 
bulist, or to the patients with whom he consents to interest 
himself. Somnambulism of itself is a state of calm, during 
which all the forces of nature put themselves in equilibrium. 



CHAP. Vin.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 175 

The stream of life then flows freely ; its waters, united in a 
single channel, are purified in their tranquil current ; but 
if you build dikes, it will overflow its banks, and produce 
the greatest disasters. 

In many works on magnetism, and especially in those 
which have been published in Germany, the authors have 
distinguished different degrees or states of somnambulism, 
the most elevated of which has been called ecstasy, or 
magnetic exaltation. I spoke of this extraordinary state in 
the preceding chapter. I ought here to state that it is very 
dangerous, and that, in the hands of a magnetizer who 
lacks force, coolness, and experience, and who is governed 
by the desire of witnessing marvels, it may be attended with 
the most fatal consequences. When this state has reached 
a certain decree, the magnetizer has no longer anv control 
over it. If, then, you see somnambulism taking this direc- 
tion, it is necessary forthwith to oppose it ; and if you fear 
you shall not succeed, you should renounce the treatment. 
It is never at the first time that this state becomes suffi- 
ciently manifest for the will of the magnetizer to be ineffi- 
cient. I think this danger has never been better exposed 
than in a pamphlet entitled " Memoire sur le Magnetisme 
animal, presente a V Academic de Berlin" 1820. This is 
from the pen of a distinguished physician, and I knew the 
man whose somnambulism was the subject of his observa- 
tions. 

I believe that the accidents which have sometimes re- 
sulted from somnambulism, have never occurred except 
when it has been pushed too far, or when its beneficial and 
restorative action has been counteracted. 

3. — Of the Dangers to which Persons expose themselves 
who place too much Confidence in Somnambulists. 

Many enthusiastic magnetizers have a blind faith in their 
somnambulists. They believe them infallible, both in the 
judgment they give of their own disease, and in that which 
they give of the diseases of others. If the remedies ordered 
by them do not succeed, they suppose it is because the pre- 
scriptions have not been followed with sufficient exactitude; 
if the remedies have done mischief, they regard the mis- 
chief as a necessary crisis. As they have sometimes seen 



176 MEANS OF AVOIDING [cHAt\ VltL 

inconceivable wonders, they have become credulous, and 
this credulity makes them lose all prudence. Even when 
a mischance arrives, they continue in the illusion. 

There are, without doubt, some somnambulists endowed 
with such a lucidity, that when they have been placed in 
communication with a sick person, they clearly explain the 
origin, the cause, and the nature of the disorder, and pre- 
scribe the most suitable remedies by indicating the effects 
they ought to produce, and the crises which are to be 
expected. They announce a disease which will develope 
itself in several months, and the precautions which ought to 
be taken when the first symptoms are perceivable. They 
even see the moral condition of the patient, penetrate his 
thoughts, and give him appropriate advice ; but these som- 
nambulists are rare ; and even those who have given proofs 
of this inconceivable clairvoyance, do not always preserve 
it, and do not possess it except at certain moments. 

It often happens also that the clairvoyance of somnam- 
bulists is not extended equally to all objects ; they see very 
well things which no person in the ordinary state could 
conjecture ; and they do not perceive others which a phy- 
sician would notice at the first glance of the eye. 

Let us not doubt of the faculties of somnambulists, but 
let us be the more prudent, since we are engaged in a 
career in which we do not see the rocks and quicksands. 

In order to avoid all the dangers of a blind confidence, 
observe the following directions: — 

When you have been so happy as to meet with a som- 
nambulist who has given proofs of his lucidity, present your 
patient to him, sustain his attention, and let him speak 
without interrogating him. If he perfectly describes the 
symptoms of the disease; if he points out the origin of it; if 
he speaks of remedies which have been employed, and of 
the effects they have produced ; if he sees clearly what it is 
impossible to divine, and especially what you are ignorant 
of yourself, as it has often happened to me, — it is evident 
that he is well acquainted with the disease, and this knowl- 
edge will be very useful to you. 

Then you will request him to point out the treatment to 
be pursued. 

If this treatment exhibits nothing that can be injurious, 
and if it does not oblige the patient to renounce that which 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 177 

he is already pursuing, and from which he has experienced 
relief, — if the somnambulist affirms that the medicines 
which he points out will produce such or such an effect, 
and that the patient will be cured after having experienced 
such or such a crisis, — you will follow his prescriptions 
with the most rigorous exactitude. 

But if, among the remedies indicated, there are some 
which, in certain cases, might do mischief, you will apply 
to an enlightened physician, who, if he be not a partisan of 
magnetism, may be at least exempt from prejudice, and you 
will submit to him the advice of the somnambulist, which 
you will follow in case he sees no danger in it. You will 
not put your somnambulist in consultation with the physi- 
cian, provided the physician is not himself a magnetizer ; 
for, in talking with him, the somnambulist may yield to his 
vanity, and say things not prompted by instinct ; but you 
will combine what he says with what the physician in 
whom you repose entire confidence tells you. By this 
means, you will have no risk to run ; and, even if the treat- 
ment does not succeed, you will have no cause for self- 
reproach. 

There are at Paris somnambulists who make a profession 
of giving advice for a fee, and the enemies of magnetism 
do not fail to say that their somnambulism is pretended. I 
can affirm the contrary, and I have examined a great num- 
ber of them with the most scrupulous attention. I have 
collected a large number of facts, which I have examined 
in such a manner as to leave me in no uncertainty on this 
head. They differ among themselves in the degree of their 
faculties and of their moral qualities ; but all are really 
somnambulists.* 

Among those whom I have observed, there is not one 
that I have not known to commit errors ; but there is not 
one that has not exhibited to me proofs of clairvoyance. 
This clairvoyance has appeared to me imperfect and limited 

* It is possible to feign an imperfect somnambulism in presence 
of persons who take no precautions to verify the reality ; and I rec- 
ollect having been for three days the dupe of a person whom I 
thought incapable of deceiving me : but whatever address the pre- 
tended somnambulist may have, you may discern the deception at 
the first examination. The faculties peculiar to somnambulists can- 
not be successfully imitated by any one who does not possess them. 



178 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VIII. 

on several occasions. At other times, they have singularly 
astonished me. For instance, I have conducted to the 
houses of these somnambulists patients whom they could 
not have known, and of whose state I was myself ignorant; 
and I have seen them, after a quarter of an hour of concen- 
tration and of silence, divine the origin, the cause, and the 
stages of the diseases, determine the seat of the pains, dis- 
cover what no physician could perceive, and describe with 
exactitude the character, the habits, and the inclinations 
of those who consult them. I have seen some of them who 
have cured very severe acute diseases, and inveterate 
chronic disorders, by boldly changing the treatment pur- 
sued up to that time. 

Each of the somnambulists of whom I speak has methods 
of investigation peculiar to himself. The attention of some 
is at first struck with the most serious evil ; others examine 
separately and successively all the organs, commencing at 
the head ; and it is only after having viewed them apart, 
that they endeavor to determine their reciprocal influence. 
There are some of them who, to make this examination, do 
nothing more than to touch with one hand the pulse of the 
patient, while with the other they feel over all the body ; 
they thus perceive by sympathy which are the affected 
organs, and they sometimes experience the pains of the 
patient so much as to suffer considerably after the sitting. 

Some of them consult for persons who are absent and 
unknown to them. Some hair of the patient, or something 
which he has worn for several days on the stomach, next to 
the skin,* suffices to put them in such close communica- 
tion with him, that they will describe exactly and minutely 
his physical and moral condition. I do not pretend that 
they do not often deceive themselves; but I have seen them 
many times succeed, in an astonishing manner, in cases 
where they had nothing to guide them, and where the dis- 
ease for which they were consulted had characteristics too 
rare for them to come at the truth by conjecture or chance. 
If he who consults has for his aim, not to enlighten himself, 
but to put the somnambulist to the proof, it is possible that, 



* It is necessary to envelope these things in paper, and not to 
have had the packet opened, when it is presented to the somnam* 
bulist. 



CAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 179 

without knowing it, he will exert an influence which will 
furnish him with new reasons for his incredulity. 

To what I have just said of the somnambulists by pro- 
fession, in reference to their varying faculties, I ought to 
add that I have noticed in many of them much uprightness 
and sensibility. Some of them take the most lively interest 
in their patients, and magnetize them with zeal. I have 
seen them carefully distinguish between what they thought 
themselves sure of, and what they thought merely probable, 
and refuse to give a consultation when they did not feel 
themselves to be in possession of sufficient clairvoyance; 
or, when the state of the patient appeared desperate, they 
would not declare the opinion they had formed respect- 
ing it. 

The part which these somnambulists have taken, of giv- 
ing consultations every day, which fatigue them, obliges 
them to take care of themselves, and renounce all other 
business. It is proper that they should be recompensed 
for their trouble, and the sacrifice of their time. The per- 
sons who apply to them are very glad to be able to acquit 
themselves of the obligation, if they have received good 
advice ; and as no one designs to deceive them, they have 
no reason to complain, if they have merely satisfied their 
curiosity. 

This is what I had to say to justify an abuse which will 
exist so long as magnetism is not practised in families, 
under the direction of a physician, and which, in the actual 
circumstances of the case, ought not to be condemned.* 
But without pretending to make any particular application, 

* Some men, who have not taken the pains to inform themselves 
of the services rendered every day by the somnambulists of whom I 
speak, would have the police forbid their giving consultations. Such 
a measure would create inconveniences a thousand times more seri- 
ous than the ones sought to be obviated. In the first place, these 
somnambulists could no longer find a magnetizer who, by a disinter- 
ested zeal, would consent to direct them and sustain their strength. 
In the second place, those of the somnambulists who have the most 
delicacy, would think they ought to renounce a practice which is 
interdicted to them. Finally, those who, in spite of the law, would 
continue to see patients, having risks to run, would demand a higher 
price for their services, and require secrecy ; and the persons who 
obtain a consultation from them, would not dare to submit it to a 
physician, for fear of compromising their obligations to the somnam- 
bulists. 



180 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VIII. 

— without disapproving what exists, — I ought to show that 
somnambulists by profession, those especially who succeed 
in throwing themselves into the crisis, ought in general to 
inspire less confidence than those of whom I spoke farther 
back, and who, in the waking state, are ignorant of the 
faculties with which they are endowed daring sleep. What 
I am about to say is supported by the true principles of 
magnetism, and confirmed by numerous observations. 

In order to have a somnambulist judge correctly the state 
of a disease, he must in some sort identify himself with the 
patient ; for, the motive which determines him to identify 
himself with a suffering being, can be no other than the 
sentiment of pity, or the love of good. It supposes a for- 
getfulness of one's self, and personal interest must neces- 
sarily alter its purity. 

When somnambulism, by being too much prolonged, be- 
comes a habit, there is established a communication between 
this and the ordinary state. Instinct no longer acts inde- 
pendently. The acquired ideas, recollections, prejudices, 
interests, are mingled with that species of inspiration which 
developes in the somnambulist a faculty absolutely foreign 
to those which we enjoy in the common state. 

Professional somnambulists are rarely in a state of ab- 
straction (isoles;) from which it is to be presumed that 
they have not reached the degree of concentration which 
ordinarily precedes perfect clairvoyance. As they see many 
patients in the course of the day, the impressions which 
they receive change their nature at every moment, and it 
is difficult for them to identify themselves alternately with 
each one of those for whom they are consulted. Besides, 
to see the disease, to describe its symptoms, to divine its 
origin, is not all. The somnambulist is also required to 
point out the treatment. The faculty of seeing remedies 
is very different from that of seeing diseases, and is not 
always united with it. It may also be remarked that many 
professional somnambulists have a pharmacy peculiar to 
themselves. They order, according to circumstances, a 
certain number of medicines which they are acquainted 
with, because they have made use of them, and their 
complicated prescriptions often appear to embrace useless 
things. 

The lucidity of somnambulists varies from one moment 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 181 

to another. A somnambulist who consults only with the 
desire of relieving a suffering being, when he perceives 
that he is not for the moment endowed with perfect clair- 
voyance, says to his magnetizer, " I do not see well to-day. 
The patient must return, and try to find me in a more 
favorable condition. I am not well acquainted with the 
disease; I cannot devise the remedy. I suspect such or 
such to be the case ; but I am not certain, and I cannot 
permit myself to say positively," &c. 

The somnambulists who receive in succession several 
patients, each one at the hour they have appointed, think 
themselves obliged to answer the questions put to them, 
provided they do not experience too much fatigue ; they 
rarely think of examining themselves, to be sure of their 
own lucidity. They would not willingly deceive you ; but 
they depend upon the first sensations they feel, and pre 
scribe remedies after the habitudes they have acquired. 
As they desire you to entertain as favorable an opinion of 
their lucidity as they themselves do, they are dexterous in 
the manner of expressing themselves. If they perceive that 
they have erred, they endeavor to rectify their judgement, 
and to persuade you that you have not well understood 
them. When they do not discover the essential disease, 
they almost always conjecture some of the symptoms; and, 
if you appear surprised at it, they profit by this discovery 
to direct themselves and to augment your confidence. If 
the remedies they have ordered do not produce the effects 
they expected, they do not on that account think themselves 
in error ; they find pretexts for excusing their error, and 
plausible reasons for modifying their treatment. All this 
may take place, without any misgivings, and with an entire 
honesty on their part ; for our interest influences our man- 
ner of viewing things, our decisions, and our conduct, 
without our knowing it. 

Somnambulists of this species have often gone to see 
physicians who are prejudiced against magnetism, and who 
wish to sustain their incredulity by experiments. They 
have almost always succeeded in putting them at fault ; and 
they have thence concluded that all those who profess to 
have acquired proof of the lucidity of somnambulists are 
dupes. If they had known the principles of magnetism, 
thev would not have drawn this conclusion. Somnara- 
16 



182 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. Villa- 

bulists of whom insidious questions are asked, are mucfe 
embarrassed; and, if vanity, or the fear of avowing their 
ignorance, determines them to answer, they make efforts, 
they are troubled, they speak at random, and very soon 
they are put in contradiction with themselves by some one 
better informed than they are. Besides, in order to have 
a somnambulist lucid, he must be sustained by the confi- 
dence and the will of the person who magnetizes him, and 
he who is put in communication must desire to receive 
useful advice from him. If he is exempt from all interest, 
— if he preserves his independence, — he will tell the one 
who comes to consult him, and whose intentions are not 
in accordance with his, "I cannot consult for you; I am 
not in condition to answer your questions." But in the 
contrary case, it is natural that he should employ the re- 
sources of his wit to supply the instinctive faculties which 
fail him.* 

Yet these somnambulists may be very useful ; and, as I 
have said, there are some of them who are endowed with 
the most astonishing faculties, and whose goodness of 
heart raises them above every other sentiment. Even 
those whose clairvoyance is very imperfect, have, at cer- 
tain moments, and as it were by flashes, a surprising lucid- 
ity. One might apply to them, not to put them to the 
proof, but to hear their advice with attention, and to de- 
rive from it some information. Tt is not during the sitting, 
but it is afterwards, that we ought to weigh, combine, 
and discuss, what they have said, in order to judge of the 
degree of confidence which they merit. I will point out 
the conduct you ought to pursue, and which you can do 
without fear. 

If you decide to consult one of these somnambulists, 
do not limit yourself to the inquiry whether he has given 
proofs of lucidity ; endeavor also to find out whether in his 
conduct he has always shown himself worthy of esteem. 



* What I say here is founded upon facts which have been related 
to me, and not upon my own observations. I never permitted my- 
self to consult somnambulists to put them to the proof*. I have not 
even gone to the houses of any except those whom I knew to have 
given evidence of clairvoyance. It seems to me not very proper to 
employ insidious means to learn the truth. It discovers itself to him 
who searches for it with perseverance and honest intentions. 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 183 

We cannot be certain that a somnambulist will not deceive 
himself, but it is at least necessary to be assured that he is 
incapable of deceiving others. If the somnambulist has a 
sensible and enlightened man for a magnetizer, this will 
be one motive for confidence. 

It is desirable for you not to be known, directly or indi- 
rectly, to the somnambulist, in order to be sure that he knows 
nothing of your disease; but this is not always possible. 
In all cases, when you have been put in communication 
with him, you will not inform him of what you suffer; yoo 
will answer yes or no to his questions, without testifying 
the least surprise. If he describes the symptoms of your 
disorder, if he discovers its origin, if he finds out what 
could not be known by his senses, you will have some 
reason to believe in his clairvoyance, and you will take 
§i ite of all the remedies that he prescribes to you. It is 
not until he has finished telling you what he has seen and 
perceived, and what he advises you to do, that you will 
permit yourself to invite him to direct his attention to any 
particular organ, or to interrogate him upon any thing 
which disquiets you. I suppose that, after having quitted 
him, and reflected upon what he has told you, you will be 
entirely satisfied, and even astonished, at the judgement 
he has formed of your condition. You will then address 
yourself to a candid physician, and submit to him the ad- 
vice of the somnambulist, before you take the remedies 
prescribed; f)r it may happen that there is a complication 
of diseases of which the somnambulist has seen but one. 
It may also be that the somnambulist sees the disorder very 
well, but mistakes in regard to the remedy. The physi- 
cian will certainly find in the advice of the somnambulist 
perceptions calculated to enlighten him: but it belongs to 
him to appreciate them, and to modify the treatment in 
consequence. 

When a lucid somnambulist prescribes remedies for 
himself, we should conform ourselves exactly to his pre- 
scriptions. If he is charged with only one patient in whom 
he takes interest, and to whom he devotes himself, he ought 
to be heard with great confidence ; and you will follow his 
advice, provided there appears to be nothing in it of a dan- 
gerous character. The physician is solely to approve or 
to disapprove. But with the somnambulists of whom I 



184 MEANS OP AVOIDING [CHAP. VIII. 

have just spoken, the physician ought to preserve his su- 
premacy, and direct the treatment, while he profits by the 
intelligence of the somnambulist, and makes use of the 
remedies indicated, if he sees therein no inconvenience. 

If reason permits us to depend solely and unreservedly 
upon a somnambulist by profession who has given proofs 
of lucidity, it is only when physicians have declared the 
case to be beyond the resources of their art, and that they 
know no means of curing the patient which has not been 
tried. 

As much as I love to contemplate somnambulism in its 
purity, when the soul, disengaged from sensation and all 
terrestrial interest, sees nothing without her but what is en- 
lightened by the torch of charity, — it is painful for me to 
consider it as a complicated faculty, of which I know 
neither the principle, the direction, nor the limits, pre- 
senting itself with vacillating and diversified characters. 
But the details into which I have entered appeared to me 
necessary, because this work is not destined solely for per- 
sons who wish to practise magnetism to do good, but also 
for those who, having heard of cures effected by somnam- 
bulists, come to consult them without having the least idea 
of the circumstances which favor or trouble their clairvoy- 
ance, and without being acquainted with the precautions 
which are necessary to distinguish between their instinctive 
notions and the illusions to which they are often exposed. 

Somnambulists may give erroneous views to those who 
consult them with too much confidence, not only in regard 
to the treatment of diseases, but also in regard to things 
not less important. I have seen persons who, at sight of 
the somnambulic phenomena, were led to the adoption of 
most absurd and extravagant opinions. I know that a 
thorough knowledge of somnambulism places one beyond 
the reach of this danger ; but there are few persons who 
have sufficiently studied this state to escape being dazzled 
by its phenomena, and to distinguish what is produced by 
the imagination from what is perceived by the new faculty 
developed or revealed by the interior sentiment. I should 
wander from the path before me, if I stepped aside to enter 
into many details on this subject. It should suffice for me 
simply to trace the route you ought to follow, so as not to 
be led astray ; yet I will make a few observations, in the 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES, 185 

first place, which will render the justness and the impor- 
tance of my counsels more perceivable. 

In somnambulists there are developed faculties of which 
we are deprived in the ordinary state; such as seeing 
without the aid of the eyes, hearing without the aid of the 
ears, seeing at a distance, reading the thoughts, appre- 
ciating time with rigorous exactitude, and, whit is still 
more astonishing, having a presage of the future. But 
there is often with somnambulists an extraordinary exal- 
tation of the faculties with which we are endowed. Thus, 
among them, the imagination may assume a prodigious ac- 
tivity ; the memory may recall a thousand ideas which were 
entirely effaced ; the elocution may become so elegant, so 
pure, so brilliant, as to seem the product of inspiration. 
But all this does not exclude error. The exercise of the 
faculties peculiar to somnambulists, as well as that of our 
ordinary faculties, has need of being attended with certain 
conditions, in order to give us exact notions. Experience 
and habit have taught us to recognize these conditions as it 
regards the external senses. We know that for our eyes 
to impart to us a just idea of the form and color of objects, 
these objects must be situated in the light, at a certain dis- 
tance, and that the rays of light reflected from them must 
not pass through a medium which distorts the images. 
On the contrary, we are ignorant of the qualities necessary 
to the free unfolding of the new faculty of the somnam- 
bulist. Further, this faculty acts alone, while the testi- 
mony of each of our senses is rectified by that of the 
others. 

As to the exaltation of our ordinary faculties, if all 
were exalted together, and to the same degree, harmony 
would be preserved, and man in somnambulism would be, 
in all respects, superior to what he is in the ordinary state. 
But it is not so. One faculty is exalted, if not at the ex- 
pense of the others, at least more than the others ; it pre- 
dominates, and harmony no more exists. It sometimes 
happens that reason bears the sway, which is a happy cir- 
cumstance ; but this is precisely what strikes people least 
forcibly. The astonishing fact is, to hear a somnambulist 
display much information upon a subject to which he had 
heretofore paid no attention; and people do not reflect that 
things which he may have heard or seen at a very distant 
16* 



186 MEANS OP AVOIDING [CHAP. VIII. 

period, come up before his mind with extreme vividness; 
that certain associations between objects become perceiv- 
able to him, which are imperceptible to us ; that the preju- 
dices of his childhood operate afresh upon him in all their 
power ; that his imagination can realize the phantoms it 
has created ; that the facility of associating his ideas, of 
expressing them in the most delightful manner, of investing 
them with all the charms of poetry, of joining them with 
some unperceived truths, which he causes to shine with 
the brightest splendor, — is not, by any means, a proof of the 
truth of what he believes and of what he says; that the 
faculty of prevision, the most inconceivable of all, never 
extends but to a certain number of objects ; that it is con- 
ditional; and that, if there are facts enough to prove its 
existence, there is not a case where we can reckon upon 
the exactitude of its application ; finally, that all the facul- 
ties of the mind can draw man far from the truth when 
their exaltation has destroyed the equilibrium which ought 
to reign among them, and which is necessary to maintain 
the supremacy of reason. 

We will now see how we may prevent somnambulists 
from running into error, and preserve ourselves from the 
influence of their illusions over us. The only infallible 
means is, not to let them busy themselves on any thing 
except the subjects in relation to which experience has 
taught us they have lights which we cannot have ; that is, 
in regard to their own health, and the health of those who 
are perfectly in communication with them, and to interdict 
them absolutely from all religious, metaphysical, and politi- 
cal discussion. 

The precept I here give is not in contradiction with 
what I have said farther back relative to somnambulists, 
who, of themselves, and without being invited, expose the 
fundamental ideas of religion. These ideas are inherent 
in the human soul, which cannot know itself without also 
knowing the cause and the end of its existence; without 
ascending to its origin ; without perceiving its relation to 
other souls free from matter. The existence of God, 
Providence, the immortality of the soul, are proved to us 
by the order of the universe, and especially by the inner 
sense; and the knowledge of the essential principles of 
morals is the result of the unfolding of our intelligence. 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 187 

For the view of the order of the universe will be the 
more clear, the inner sense will be the more quick, the 
unfolding of intelligence will be the more regular, the 
more the soul is disengaged from all terrestrial interest, the 
more estranged from all passion. And this is the reason 
why the somnambulist, abstracted and concentrated in him- 
self, is, in this respect, more enlightened than we. But in 
regard to things which have been revealed to man, or 
which have been taught us by tradition, it does not belong 
to somnambulists to instruct us ; they have merely the 
same gift that we have. Their disposition to piety might 
edify us; but if we make them reason about mysteries, 
their imagination will be exalted, and they will give into 
all sorts of errors; they will no longer draw consequences 
from innate principles, but from the prejudices of child- 
hood, or from some hypothetical views. They will con- 
duct us into an ideal world, where, as in the actual world, 
illusion and reality will be mingled, not to be separated 
except by the aid of reason and experience. Even when, 
in this ideal world, the somnambulist sees what is concealed 
from us, he cannot communicate it to us, more than we 
can give to those who are born blind an idea of the phe- 
nomena of vision. 

I know that many persons have been led to embrace the 
reveries of what is called illuminism, by the confidence they 
have had in mystic or ecstatic somnambulists. The way 
to escape from this danger is, not to let the somnambulist 
wander into the regions of fantasy, and to limit ourselves, 
as to religious doctrines, to what we are required to be- 
lieve. God has revealed to us what it behoves us to know, 
and the indiscreet curiosity which would go beyond this, 
will be always punished. 

Ecstatic somnambulism is often exhibited without being 
induced by magnetism. They who enter into this state 
manifest, upon certain points, a clairvoyance which would 
appear miraculous ; they do not exhibit less in the strangest 
errors ; and they have exerted the most fatal influence 
upon those who have had the imprudence to listen to them 
as oracles. 

If it is dangerous to consult somnambulists upon the 
dogmas of religion, it is not less so to consult them upon 
political affairs. I have seen men, otherwise well in- 



138 MEANS OF AVOIDING [ciIAP. VIII. 

formed, become the dupes of their visions and their pre- 
dictions. I cannot too much recommend your never per- 
mitting them to enter upon such a course. 

The metaphysical acumen of certain somnambulists is 
sometimes very surprising. Doubtless it is better than that 
of the materialists, but it does not repose upon a solid 
basis. It generally conducts us to systems analogous to 
those of the Alexandrian school, or of the Eclectics of the 
third century, in which sublime truths were associated with 
senseless creeds. Somnambulists who give themselves up 
to this species of research, ordinarily lose the most impor- 
tant faculties; and the proofs of lucidity which they exhibit 
in relation to certain things of a useless nature, merely 
serve to mislead the judgement of those who mistake their 
visions for realities. 

I have seen persons who had certain proofs of the clair- 
voyance of a somnambulist, consult him about the conduct 
of their domestic affairs, and suffer themselves to be guided 
by him ; and I have also seen them by this means take im- 
prudent steps. I do not deny that a somnambulist may 
sometimes, and in certain circumstances, give excellent 
advice, because of the penetration he possesses, and even 
because of his ability to foresee the issue of an event which 
is in progress; but for this it is necessary for him to speak 
of his own accord, yielding to his instinct, without being 
excited, without being solicited, and without reasoning. 
A very good somnambulist, who is in thorough communi- 
cation with you, will tell you, " Beware of such a person ; 
he is deceiving you:" or, "Do not undertake such a 
journey ; the result will be unfortunate." This merits some 
attention. But, if you argue with him, he will enjoy no 
advantage over you, except that of having more wit, and 
more facility in conveying his thoughts. 

I repeat it for the last time, — if you desire to avoid the 
danger of the influence which somnambulists may exercise 
over you, do not consult them except about what apper- 
tains to their real interest, and about what they may know 
better than you, namely, upon the means of reestablishing 
their health, or of directing their moral conduct. 

In many works upon magnetism, somnambulism has 
been represented as a state of purity, in which man is supe- 
rior to the passions, and would reject the slightest thought 



CHAP. VIII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 189 

which would wound decency or the moral sense. Those 
who have sustained this thesis are supported by some facts; 
but the principle generalized is absolutely false. Many 
somnambulists preserve the passions and the inclinations 
which they had in the waking state. There are some of 
them who would sacrifice themselves for others ; there are 
some who are profoundly selfish ; there are some who are 
of angelic purity, and these would go into convulsions if 
the magnetizer had a thought injurious to modesty. Some 
may be found who preserve in somnambulism the depravity 
which they display in the ordinary state. There are some 
of them who calculate their own interests, and profit by 
what is told them to procure themselves some advantages. 
Vanity and jealousy are sentiments very common among 
them. 

It follows, from all I have just said, that the greatest wis- 
dom and the greatest prudence are requisite for the good 
management of somnambulists, and for preventing their 
gaining an ascendency over the magnetizer; that he ought 
always to preserve his supremacy, and yet not to make use 
of it except to retain them in subjection, and never to excite 
them ; finally, that this state, in some sort supernatural, 
may, in bad hands, be attended with many dangers. But 
let plain and upright men be fearless; let them but exercise 
an unshaken will for good: let them employ somnambulism 
only for the object for which Providence has destined it ; let 
them repress their curiosity, the spirit of proselytism, the 
rage for experiments ; let a compassionate charity, an un- 
bounded confidence, be the only motives of their action, 
— and they will never have any thing to dread. 



190 



CHAPTER IX. 

OF THE MEANS OF DEVELOPING IN OURSELVES 

THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES, AND OF DERIVING 

ADVANTAGE FROM THIS DEVELOPEMENT. 



When Mesmer announced his discovery, he would not 
divulge a secret of which he thought himself the sole pos- 
sessor, unless they would allow him a certain number of 
select students, to whom he could explain all his theory, and 
at the same time teach them the mode of its application. 
But to let the world know how vast and important that 
theory was, and to establish his priority of discovery, (pour 
prendre date,) he published its fundamental principles in 
twenty-seven propositions, the proofs of which he reserved, 
and the developement of which he promised to give, and 
also to explain its consequences, as soon as they had con- 
sented to arrange the matter, and to take the measures he 
judged proper to prevent the abuse of his principles, and the 
robbing him of the glory of having discovered them. These 
propositions were very obscure. Several of them seemed 
contrary to the received principles of physics. They have 
never been clearly explained, and yet the practice of mag- 
netism has been attended with the greatest success. This 
proves that they were not so important as their author 
thought them; and that the effects which he produced, and 
those which his pupils produced, were not essentially allied 
to his doctrine. Yet we cannot but agree that the asser- 
tions of Mesmer merit the greatest attention, if not for the 
general system of physics with which he associated his dis- 
covery, at least as far as it relates to the proper action of 
magnetism, its power, its effects, to the means of directing 
and strengthening its action, and to the utility derivable from 
it, especially in the treatment of diseases ; for Mesmer was 
both a good observer and a learned physician. 

The twenty-seventh of the propositions of Mesmer com- 



CHAP. IX.] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 191 

mences in this manner : "This doctrine will put the physi- 
cian in the way of forming a correct judgement of the degree 
of each individual's health." 

People have not sufficiently reflected upon this proposi- 
tion, and they will search in vain in most of the works 
upon magnetism to discover how it leads the physician to 
decide in relation to the state of the sick. 

Mesmer also said, in the thirteenth proposition, "Experi- 
ment has proved the existence of a subtile matter, which 
penetrates all bodies without apparently losing its activity ." 
This proposition has been left unexplained, as well as the 
twenty-seventh. 

Mesmer afterwards spoke much of the currents, and no 
account has been given of what he meant by the term. 
The supposition of currents passing and repassing through 
bodies, as that of the poles, appertains to the general system 
of Mesmer, and I agree that it is useless to look into this 
subject now ; but if we can ascertain, by experiment, the 
flowing of a subtile fluid, and if the name current is given 
to this emanation, the nature of this emanation, the degree 
of force with which it escapes, and the cause of the direc- 
tion it takes, are physical and physiological problems which 
ought to be examined with the greatest care. 

The phenomenon mentioned by Mesmer has been known 
to a great number of his scholars. It was in particular 
known to M. d'Eslon, who fixed upon this subject the at- 
tention of almost all those to whom he taught the practice 
of magnetism. This knowledge was common to several of 
the members of the Society at Strasburg ; and yet, in the 
numerous memoirs which they have published, they have 
spoken of it only in a vague manner, as of a thing known 
to all the world by an oral tradition, which it is therefore 
useless to explain. I have myself scarcely said any thing 
upon this subject in my "Critical History," because I did not 
well understand its nature, and not being endowed with the 
faculty of perceiving in myself the diseases of others, and 
not having paid attention to the action of the currents, I 
could not speak of it from my own experience. I have 
since read some manuscripts of M. d'Eslon, in which the 
question has been treated of; I have also read a manuscript 
work, written thirty-six years ago, by a highly-intelligent 
gentleman, an excellent observer, and who, having first 



192 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. IX, 

been instructed by M. d'Eslon, had added much to the 
knowledge he had acquired as a pupil ; and I am convinced 
that what I had neglected to look into, was a very remark- 
able phenomenon, the observation of which is the most use- 
ful in the practice of magnetism. 

M. de Lausanne recently gave a long extract from the 
manuscript I have just cited. It forms the first volume of 
the work entitled " The Processes and Principles of Mag- 
netism" 2 vols. 8vo. 1819. I invite those who wish to 
practise magnetism to read this work with the greatest at- 
tention, and to exercise themselves patiently in the method 
taught by the author. Of course I cannot here lay down 
all the principles, nor give their explanation. I must limit 
myself to let the reader know the principal phenomenon, and 
the indications with which it furnishes us, the better to suc- 
ceed in the treatment of diseases. 

It is well known that good somnambulists discover the 
seat of the diseases of persons put in communication with 
them, sometimes by experiencing, sympathetically, pains in 
the part of their body corresponding with that which is af- 
fected in the patient; sometimes by passing the hands over 
them, and examining with attention from the head to the 
feet. It is also well known that without any instruction 
they magnetize much better than they do when awake, and 
that they give to the magnetic fluid the most suitable di- 
rection. 

This faculty of perceiving the seat of diseases, and the 
direction which we ought to give to the fluid, does not be- 
long exclusively to somnambulists ; it is also developed in 
many magnetizers, when they are attentive to the different 
sensations they experience, either while magnetizing various 
patients, or while carrying the action of magnetism upon 
any organ of a patient with whom they are in communi- 
cation. 

I know many magnetizers, who, when they hold their 
hand upon the seat of an internal disease, perceive a pain 
which extends to the elbow ; their hand is benumbed, and 
even becomes swollen. This effect diminishes with the 
disease ; it ceases with the cure ; and its cessation indicates 
that magnetism is no longer necessary. 

I saw a physician experience this sensation the first time 
he attempted to magnetize. With others it does not show 



CHAP, IX.] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 193 

itself until after reiterated attempts. I have not observed 
it in myself, because my occupations have not permitted me 
to magnetize except by intervals, and when I was induced 
to it by the desire of alleviating a sick person. Yet some 
effects which I have perceived in various circumstances, 
make me think I should have acquired it, had I taken care 
to notice the causes which produced them. 

The delicate tact which enables us to perceive the seat, 
and sometimes the nature, of the disease ; to foretell a crisis 
which is in progress ; to judge of the moment when a crisis 
will terminate ; and to choose, as by instinct, the processes 
best calculated to direct the action well, — being the most 
useful of all the faculties to the magnetizer, I am going to 
treat succinctly of the mode of acquiring it, and of making 
use of it. What I shall say is not the result of my own 
experience, but of the explanation which many magnetizers 
have given me of the method pursued by themselves, by 
whom I have seen wonderful cures effected ; of my conver- 
sations with the late M. Varnier, with many pupils of M. 
d'Eslon, and many members of the Society of Strasburg ; 
of the theory explained in the work I have just cited ; of some 
observations which I extracted from the English work of 
Dr. de Maineduc ; * and finally, of the examination and com- 
parison of a great number of facts which I have witnessed, 
and of all those which I have been able to collect. 

When a man magnetizes, he puts himself, by the exer- 
tion of his will, in a state different from his habitual one ; 
he concentrates his attention upon a single object ; he 
throws off and directs beyond himself the nervous or vital 
fluid ; and this new manner of being renders him suscep- 
tible of new impressions. He first perceives a change 
operated in himself by the action in which he is engaged. 
He then experiences, by the reaction of him whom he mag- 
netizes, various sensations which affect him more or less, 
according to the degree of susceptibility with which he is 
endowed, and according to the degree of attention which 
he pays to recognise and distinguish them. 

* I have no longer this book in my possession. It was published 
at London, nearly thirty years ago, in an octavo edition. The au- 
thor therein unfolds a curious, but very systematic theory ; and it 
demands of those who wish to practise magnetism a knowledge of 
things which do not appear to me at all necessary. 

17 



194 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. 1X» 

The change which occurs in us when we act magnet- 
ically, — that is to say, when the passes we make are mag- 
netic, — and the feeling which persuades us we are in com- 
munication with him whom we wish to magnetize, are 
things which it is impossible to describe, but which they 
who are in the habit of magnetizing, and who have ob- 
served what passes in themselves, recognise with certainty. 
This disposition is composed of a determined intention, 
which banishes all distraction without our making any 
effort ; of a lively interest which the patient inspires in us, 
and which draws us towards him ; and of a confidence in 
our power, which leaves us in no doubt as to our success 
in alleviating him. When experience has taught you that 
you are susceptible of this feeling, if you do not perceive 
it after you have tried a quarter of an hour, it is useless to 
continue ; the efforts of will that you could make would be 
unavailing. You will try two or three times more on the 
following days, and you will cease if you have no more 
success ; for then it proves that you are not in a state to 
magnetize, or that your action does not agree with the 
person on whom you wish to act. On the contrary, if you 
perceive in yourself a manifestation of the disposition of 
which I speak, you should persevere ; for, when the pa- 
tient feels nothing, it is extremely probable that you exer- 
cise upon him a real action, whose effects will be mani- 
fested in the sequel, either by some crises or by an 
amelioration of health. 

Besides the change in the moral dispositions, there are 
also some signs purely physical, or some sensations which 
will indubitably assure the magnetizer that he has estab- 
lished a communication, and exercises a magnetic action. 
Commonly his hands are warm; it seems as if the vital 
action were carried outwards. 

I have been intimately connected with a man who had 
a very energetic and a very salutary magnetic power. 
When he had begun to act upon any one, he was obliged 
to continue nearly three quarters of an hour, or otherwise 
he found himself the rest of the day in a state of agitation. 
When he had once put the fluid in motion within himself, 
it was necessary to let it pass off in the direction he had 
given it. He ceased, if at the end of a quarter of an hour 
his hands were not warmed. In the last case, he was sure 



CHAP. IX.] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 195 

that he had not acted ; in the first, he was sure of the con- 
trary; and I have never seen him deceived, although at 
first the patient experienced nothing. 

I am acquainted with a lady, who, when she begins to 
magnetize, experiences much heat in the hands. After a 
sitting of three quarters of an hour, (more or less, which 
depends upon whether the person she magnetizes draws off 
more or less of the fluid,) her hands become very cold. 
Then she acts no more. The same thing takes place when 
she magnetizes water. Her magnetic faculties are reestab- 
lished after an hour of repose, especially when she walks 
in the open air. 

Some magnetizers feel, at the end of several minutes, 
a correspondence which is established between their two 
hands, so that when they place one upon the stomach of 
the patient, and the other behind his back, it seems to them 
as if their hands touch each other. This sensation proves 
that the fluid penetrates the patient. 

Let us now come to the effects produced upon the mag- 
netizer by the reaction of his patient. These effects occur 
only when the communication is well established. They 
can manifest themselves to a greater or less degree by three 
phenomena of a different order. The first of these phe- 
nomena is very ordinary, and known to a great number of 
magnetizers. The two others do not show themselves dis- 
tinctly, except to those who have made them an object of 
incessant study ; perhaps it is even necessary to have pecu- 
liar dispositions to acquire the knowledge of them. 

I here stop a moment to tell the means which the author 
of the work published by M. de Lausanne has pointed out 
to establish the intimate communication which is necessary 
to the end which he proposes, namely, the examination of 
diseases. 

Place yourself in such a manner that all the parts of your 
body may be as much as possible opposite to the corre- 
sponding parts of the patient's body, and hold him by the 
thumb six or eight minutes, directing your will and con- 
centrating your attention upon him. Then make very 
slow passes along the arms and before the body, from the 
head to the feet, or at least to the knees. Withdraw your- 
self by degrees to make passes at first at the distance of an 
inch, then at several inches, giving to your hands only the 



196 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. IX* 

force necessary to sustain them, continuing to observe 
well all your sensations. 

Here I will tell you what you will experience, in a man- 
ner more or less sensible, perhaps at the first time, perhaps 
at the end of eight or ten sittings, perhaps only at the end 
of some months. I am ignorant whether there are persons 
who have not the necessary temperament to obtain this 
end. To determine this, it would be requisite to know 
whether they who have never attained it, have not, like me, 
failed in patience and perseverance in their researches, and 
whether the habit of magnetizing without taking notice of 
their sensations, has not hindered them from following the 
necessary course to develope them. 

These are the three phenomena, and this is the advan- 
tage derivable from them. 

1. While drawing your hands slowly before your patient, 
at the distance of three or four inches, and holding your 
fingers slightly bent, you will feel, either at the ends of the 
fingers, or at the palm of the hand, different sensations, as 
they pass along before the affected organ of the patient. 
These sensations will be either of cold, or of prickly heat, 
or of slight pain, or of numbness. They will indicate to 
you the principal seat of the disease, and consequently the 
part upon which you ought to direct the action. 

2. You may experience a feeling of pain or a difficulty 
in the internal organs of your body, corresponding with 
those which are affected in your patient. This is a sym- 
pathetic action noticed in many somnambulists. It is 
evident that this sensation intimates to us the seat and the 
nature of the disease. I will add one thing, the reason of 
which I will soon explain. If you experience pain in an 
organ on the right or on the left of your body, you should 
first approach by little and little to render the sensation 
more strong, and then withdraw yourself gradually to the 
distance of two or three feet; for it may be that the affected 
organ of your patient may act at a little distance upon the 
organ in you which is opposite; that his spleen, for in- 
stance, may make its action be felt upon your liver; but by 
withdrawing yourself, you may be sure that the sensation 
will be transferred from the right to the analogous organ 
on the left. 

3L And here there is something more important which 



CHAP. IX.] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 197 

has been unhappily too much neglected in our day. You 
will perceive, as it were, a vapor which escapes from cer- 
tain parts of the body of your patient, and takes a certain 
direction. This vapor will act upon you as a slight force, 
which will attract or repel your hand, and which will con- 
duct it from one place to another, provided you abandon 
yourself entirely to its action. 

These are what are called the currents. The faculty of 
perceiving them is often acquired only after a time, longer 
or shorter ; but when they are once recognised, you will 
follow them naturally; you magnetize, as it were, by instinct; 
you will assist nature by carrying the vital action upon 
the deficient organ ; you will augment or moderate your 
force at will. It is by these currents that the analogous 
organs of the magnetizer are sometimes affected. 

The currents will enable you to perceive a crisis which 
is at hand. They also indicate the moment when it is 
terminated ; for then calmness is reestablished : you are 
withdrawn far from the body, and you feel nothing further 
to attract you to it. They also enable you to discover the 
principal focus of the disease, and they direct you to follow 
all its ramifications, A very severe disorder of the liver, 
or of the spleen, or of some other viscus of the abdomen, is 
often accompanied with no pain in that organ ; but it pro- 
duces either headaches, or ophthalmias, or earaches, or 
appearances of an affection of the chest. The currents 
conduct you to the part where the cause of the disease re- 
sides ; they direct your action ; they can even indicate to 
the physician the remedies to be employed to aid and favor 
the work of nature, excited by magnetism. 

It is almost useless to say that, to observe the currents 
carefully, the magnetizer must be free from distraction ; 
but it is well to remark that, when he has once habituated 
himself to being directed by them, he needs to make no 
effort of attention to follow them. 

I am acquainted with a man who was closely allied to 
him whose work I have cited. He perceives the disorder 
of those whom he magnetizes ; he experiences beforehand, 
and sometimes in a very painful manner, the crises which 
they are soon to experience, and which he developes in 
them. When he is in communication, he examines succes- 
sively all the parts of the patient's body; he shuts his eyes, 
17* 



198 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. IX, 

and concentrates his attention. He very soon perceives his 
hand to be, as it were, wrapped in a vapor, the current of 
which he follows involuntarily, and this vapor conducts him, 
by different routes, to the place where it must stop. I have 
sometimes seen him magnetize several hours in succession. 
He does not cease until the crisis is terminated. 

I will enter into no further details concerning the cur- 
rents, because those who shall once have acquired the 
faculty of perceiving them, will read the work I have cited, 
and then conduct themselves according to the experience 
they will soon secure. But I ought to add something rela- 
tive to the sensations which are felt at the ends of the 
fingers, at the roots of the nails, or in the palm of the hand, 
because this phenomenon is more frequent, and it is good 
to be aware of the indications thence to be derived, accord- 
ing to the opinions of those who have observed them. 
What I am going to say on this subject is extracted from 
the work entitled " Principes du Magnetisme," and from 
that of Dr. de Maineduc. 

"A sensation of cold almost always indicates an ob- 
struction, an enlargement, inaction, or a stagnation of the 
humors. You must at first exert a gentle and soothing 
action, augment it gradually, concentrate it upon the spot 
that produces coldness, and then spread it out to reestablish 
the equilibrium. If the patient feels a sensation of cold 
from your hand, you should continue until you have 
changed it into a sensation of gentle heat, in which you 
will not always succeed at the first sitting." — Prin. du 



" A dry and burning heat announces a great tension of 
the fibres, and inflammation. You must use the circular 
motion, to spread the fluid, until this heat, becomes gentle 
and moist." — Ibid. 

" The pricking sensations at the ends of your fingers 
indicate the existence of a humor more or less acrid, if they 
are felt when you hold them before the viscera ; they are 
the proof of an irritation, and of what is commonly called 
acrimony in the blood, if they are perceived when you 
touch the head or the arm." — Ibid. 

" Numbness at the ends of your fingers indicates want 
of circulation. You must then magnetize with activity, to 
reestablish the currents." — Ibid. 



CHAP. IX.] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 199 

" The magnetizer sometimes feels a fluctuating move- 
ment in his hands and fingers. This indicates a move- 
ment of the patient's blood, and an incipient evacuation, 
which you must favor, by making passes along the sides 
and thighs." — Ibid. 

"When there is sordes (glaircs) in the stomach- or lungs, 
the magnetizer experiences a sensation of thickness and 
stiffness of the fingers. Sometimes he feels at the ends 
of the fingers a circular pressure, as though a thread were 
bound round them." — Maincduc. 

" When the nerves have lost their tone, he perceives a 
weakness in his fingers and wrist." — Ibid. 

" In obstructions, the magnetizer has a sensation of acri- 
mony, dryness, contraction, and formication, if there is no 
inflammation ; and of heat, if there is inflammation." — 
Ibid. 

" Contusions produce heaviness and swelling in the 
•hand." — Ibid, 

" The presence of worms excites formication and pinch- 
ing (piticement) in the fingers." — Ibid. 

I will say no more on this subject, because, if it appears 
to me indisputable that the sensations experienced by the 
magnetizer indicate the seat of the disease, it seems very 
doubtful whether he can, by means of them, determine its 
character. 

We are indebted to M. Babst for the knowledge of the 
means of exploring the nature of a disease in which he has 
always succeeded. He has observed that, when he puts his 
hand upon the seat of the disease, the pulse is raised. In 
consequence, after being put in communication, he draws 
his right hand slowly before the body of the patient ; he 
holds, at the same time, his left hand closed, so as to feel 
the pulsation of the artery in the thumb, and directs ah 
his attention to that hand. When the pulsations are accel 
erated, he stops ; and if the acceleration continues, he con- 
cludes that he has found the seat of the disorder. I have 
tried in vain to experience this effect, but I advise magnet- 
izers to observe it. It seems to me that a person might 
feel more distinctly the acceleration of the arterial move- 
ment, by placing a finger of the left hand upon the temporal 
artery. 



200 THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. [CHAP. IX. 

The theory treated of in this chapter will not be of much 
utility to the greater part of the persons to whom this in- 
struction is addressed; but as many of them will be disposed 
to acquire the faculties of which I speak, I thought it my 
duty to point out the means of developing them. Let not 
others be disquieted on this account : by conforming to the 
principles I have given, they will be always sure of doing 
much good. 

Magnetism, considered as a means of relieving our fellow- 
men, of aiding the action of nature, of facilitating the crises, 
of assisting ordinary medicine, is an instrument of charity 
which all men of good intentions may employ with success, 
without any study, without any knowledge of the physical 
sciences. One might even say that an innate instinct often 
induces us to exercise it ; and perhaps the practice of ob- 
serving every thing, of explaining every thing, of admitting 
nothing which lacks accordance with our acquired notions, 
of rejecting every thing of which our senses do not afford 
a direct proof, and every thing not found in the philosophy 
we have adopted, is much less favorable to the exercise of 
this faculty than a benevolent simplicity unaccustomed to 
investigation and discussion. Why do children whom we 
have seen magnetize, magnetize with success ? They do 
not account for what they do, but they believe they will, 
and they perform cures in proportion to their strength. 

Yet magnetism presents phenomena which may enlighten 
us upon our physical organization, and upon the faculties 
of our soul. It is an action in living beings resembling 
attraction in inanimate matter. This action hath its laws. 
Let physicians, physiologists, and metaphysicians, unite to 
study them, and they will soon make a science whose appli- 
cation will add much to the various branches of knowledge 
which are destined to strengthen the ties that bind men 
together, and diminish the ills to which they are exposed. 



201 



CHAPTER X. 

OF THE STUDIES BY WHICH A PERSON MAY 

PERFECT HIMSELF IN THE KNOWLEDGE 

OF MAGNETISM. 

Magnetism may be considered under two points of view 
— either as the mere employment of a faculty which God 
has given us, or as a science whose theory embraces the 
greatest problems of physiology and psychology, and whose 
applications are extremely varied. 

Hence it follows that the persons who are engaged in 
this subject may be divided into two classes. 

The first class comprehends those who, having recog- 
nised in themselves the faculty of doing good by magnet- 
ism, or, at least, hoping to succeed therein, wish to make 
use of it in their families, or among their friends, or with 
some poor patients, but who, having duties to fulfil or busi- 
ness to follow, do not magnetize except in circumstances 
where it appears to them necessary, without seeking pub- 
licity, without any motive but that of charity, without any 
other aim than that of curing or relieving suffering hu- 
manity. , 

The second class is composed of men who, having lei- 
sure, wish to join to the practice of magnetism the study of 
the phenomena it exhibits; to enter largely into it; to estab- 
lish treatments for taking care of many patients at a time ; 
to form pupils capable of aiding them; to have somnambu- 
lists who may enlighten them ; to examine closely, compare 
and arrange the phenomena, in such a way as to establish 
a regular code of laws, whose principles may be certain, 
and whose consequences, extending daily, may lead to new 
applications. 

This class is separated from the preceding by a great 
number of degrees, which must be successively mounted 
before one can find himself situated where he can command 



202 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

a more extended horizon. I therefore advise those of the 
former class not to think of passing beyond their limits 
unless they are masters of their own time, and have some 
preliminary knowledge. Their lot is very good ; they are 
strangers to the vanities and the inquietudes which attend 
new attempts, to the uncertainty which springs from the 
conflict of opinions and of various points of view under 
which things are presented to us ; they taste without mix- 
ture or distraction the satisfaction of doing good. May 
they be so wise as not to meddle with any theory, or to 
search for extraordinary phenomena ! Let them continue 
to employ, with confidence and self-collectedness, the pro- 
cesses by which they have succeeded, without any other 
design than to benefit the patient in whom they are inter- 
ested. When they have obtained a cure, they will speak 
of it unboastingly, so as to engage other persons to employ 
the same means. The instruction I am publishing is suffi- 
cient to direct them in all cases ; they will not even need 
to have recourse to it, except according to circumstances. 

As to the persons who desire to belong to the second 
class, I advise them to consider at first the extent of the 
career they will have to run. It is better not to enter it, 
than to stop in the midst of their enterprise. In what ap- 
pertains to the practice, a prudent simplicity is preferable 
to science. In what relates to theory, imperfect notions 
expose us to dangerous errors. The laborer who cultivates 
his farm, as his fathers did before him, collects every year 
the price of his labors. Should he give way to an inclina- 
tion to pursue an experimental method, he might be ruined 
before he is enlightened by his own experience. 

It is not in my power to impart to others much of the 
knowledge they ought to have ; but I perceive the need of 
it. I see the superiority of those who possess it ; and I 
could point out the mode they must pursue to acquire it, and 
especially the disposition of mind which is requisite to di- 
rect its application to the object in view. 

I think it useful, therefore, to end this work with some ad- 
vice to those who wish to elevate themselves into the region 
of which I have only had a glimpse, but the chart of which 
is well known to me through the relations of those who have 
run over it with more or less success. I suppose the men 
whom I now address to be entirely convinced of the power 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OP MAGNETISM. 203 

of magnetism, and to have recognised in themselves the 
faculty of using it, and of producing the most surprising 
and the most salutary effects. Without this first condition, 
what I am going to say would be to them absolutely useless. 

It is desirable that persons who wish to study this sub- 
ject thoroughly, should have at first some elementary no- 
tions of physics, of anatomy, of physiology, and of medicine, 
in order to appreciate the facts, and to avoid being duped 
by the errors which are found in various books. There is 
also a necessity for them to be versed in that part of philos- 
ophy which treats of the origin of ideas, of the develope- 
ment and of the relation of the various faculties of the soul, 
so that the view of certain marvellous facts may not precip- 
itate them into false systems. 

Supposing a person to have the dispositions, the faculties, 
and the preliminary knowledge, of which I speak, he must 
read in order what has been written upon magnetism. I 
think that they who are not acquainted with foreign lan- 
guages may commence with my " Critical History," not be- 
cause this work is worth more than many others, but be- 
cause it presents in a mass, and gives an idea of, the history, 
the proofs, the processes, the phenomena, the application 
to the cure of diseases, the means of avoiding the incon- 
veniences, and, finally, because it contains a succinct notice 
of all the books which had appeared in France upon 
the same subject at the time when it was published. 

To those books, which I have classified, may be added 
i( Les Annates du Magnetisme," " La Bibliotheque du Mag- 
netisme" and other works recently printed, of which it is 
easy to procure a catalogue. You should not neglect to 
inform yourself of the objections made by physicians, and 
of the explanations they have given of the phenomena, the 
reality of which they do not deny.* 

* You will find, in my " Defence of Magnetism," some references 
to most of the articles in which it has been attacked. Those objec- 
tions which it is essential to know, were afterwards collected, and 
presented, with much talent, in the article " Mesmerism," in the 
Encyclopaedia. I owe thanks to the author of the article for the 
great politeness with which he has spoken of me. I do not think 
myself deserving of the eulogium he passes upon me ; but I think, if 
his article had not been composed before the publication of my 
" Defence of Magnetism," he would have found in it a solution of 
most of the difficulties he proposes ; and I would have voluntarily 
depended upon his judgement. 



204 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

You will consult the works on medicine and physiology, 
in which the authors, treating of questions foreign to mag- 
netism, have been led to assent to its action and to the 
effects it produces. Such is the work of M. Georget, en- 
titled " Physiologic du Systeme Nerveux." You will also 
examine into the nature of the diseases in which some of 
the most extraordinary phenomena of magnetism are spon- 
taneously presented, as may be seen in the work of Dr. 
Petetin, and in the history of Mademoiselle Julie, by M. 
le Baron de Strombeck. 

You will not fail also to read the fine dissertation of Van 
Helmont, the writings of Maxwell, Wirdig, and other 
authors of the same time, who are quoted by Thouret, in 
his " Rechcrches et JDoutes," although he read them su- 
perficially. 

But the instruction to be obtained from French and Latin 
books is nothing compared to what may be obtained by 
those who are acquainted with foreign languages. The 
Dutch work of the celebrated Dr. Backer, of Groningen 
contains excellent precepts and very curious facts ; and the 
German works of Kluge, Wienholt, Wolfart, Eschenmayer, 
Passivant, Ennemoser, Kieser, and Nees-von-Esenbeck, are 
an inexhaustible mine. All these authors agree to the 
same facts ; they differ in regard to method and explanation ; 
they have combined the knowledge acquired by magnetism 
with what they have drawn from other sciences ; and several 
of thern have associated the theory of magnetism with the 
most elevated philosophy. Ennemoser has much erudition; 
and, although not much of a critic, he points out traces of 
magnetism in the historians and philosophers of antiquity. 
Kluge was the first to give a classical work, in which phe- 
nomena are compared and explained by a very ingenious 
hypothesis, based chiefly upon anatomy and physiology. 
Wienholt collects a great number of facts, carefully observed 
and ingenuously discussed. Wolfart has published in suc- 
cession all that he has observed, either in his individual prac- 
tice or in his public treatment, in which he is aided by 
several of his pupils. He has thrown great light upon the 
application of magnetism to the cure of diseases. He adopt- 
ed, expanded, and rectified, the theory of Mesmer. Eschen- 
mayer admits the existence of an organic ether, spread 
every where, and much more subtile than light. In other 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 205 

respects, he is a metaphysical spiritualist. Passivant unites 
his theory to the most touching and sublime religious senti- 
ments. His work carries light to the head and charity to 
the heart. Kieser is a bold and systematic genius, who 
searches for the explanation of the phenomena in a very 
singular theory of the general system of nature. Nees- 
von-Esenbeck, and the authors of " Hermes" modified the 
hypothesis of Kieser. Without adopting the opinions of 
these various authors, you will at least derive this advan- 
tage from the study of them, namely, the certainty of the 
principles in which they all agree, and the facts upon which 
they equally depend, which have been observed with the 
greatest care. 

In studying these various works upon magnetism, we 
ought not to lose any opportunity to make observations for 
ourselves. I ought here to lay it down as an important 
principle, unhappily too much neglected, not only by those 
who are pursuing these investigations by themselves, but 
still more by those who have undertaken the task of en- 
lightening others by their writings. 

In all sciences, we should commence by the most simple 
principles, and pass, by degrees, to such as are complex. 
The solution of the highest problems in physics would be 
unintelligible to him who is ignorant of the laws of motion 
and the action of electricity and caloric. It is the same in 
the study of this subject. You should begin by closely 
examining the most simple and the most common effects, 
such as are daily produced with perfect facility, such as 
merely prove that magnetism produces influences which 
are peculiar to itself, before you think of taking notice of 
the striking phenomena, such as somnambulism ; for these 
are complicated by several causes which it is first necessary 
to study separately. 

While reading works published upon magnetism, you 
should not neglect to form acquaintance with persons who 
practise it ; to see, test, and collect, new phenomena ; to dis- 
tinguish what is common to all, and what is peculiar to each 
of them. You will endeavor to discriminate, in the various 
phenomena which the same somnambulist often presents, 
those which originate in the action of the magnetizer, from 
those which may have been produced or modified by the 
will or by the imagination of the patient ; those which are 
18 



206 OP THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

owing to a very great excitation of the organs of sense, 
from those which announce the developement of a peculiar 
sense ; finally, those which demonstrate a clairvoyance 
more or less extensive, but which is displayed only in re- 
gard to real and sensible objects, from those where the same 
clairvoyance is clouded with illusions. You will also ex- 
amine whether there is not a magnetic force pervading na- 
ture, which acts upon men when disposed to receive it, and 
when voluntarily placed in circumstances that may con- 
centrate and direct it. 

After having collected a great number of phenomena, 
you should endeavor to class and compare them, and to 
establish a theory resulting from this comparison, if, per- 
chance, we have arrived to the point where it would be truly 
philosophical to form a theory. Up to the present time, 
nearly all the writers, who have wished to lay down general 
principles, have founded them upon some facts of the same- 
order, without regard to other facts, to which they are not 
applicable. This is very natural, for the reason that the 
somnambulists of the same magnetizer have generally a 
certain analogy among themselves, because of the identity 
of the influence exerted over them. Hence, to discover 
general laws, it is necessary not only to have seen many 
facts with your own eyes, but to have collected a great 
number of others, which are to be carefully proved, and all 
their circumstances scrutinized. 

As to the curative action of magnetism, independently 
of the indications which somnambulism has been able to 
furnish, we cannot know how far it extends, — in what 
diseases and upon what temperaments it is most efficacious, 
— until physicians shall have submitted to the magnetic 
treatment a great number of patients whom they have ex- 
amined before the treatment, to determine the nature of 
the disease, and to know if it be curable by ordinary means, 
and, after the treatment, to judge of the changes that may 
have been produced. Yet the multitude of cures effected 
in a short time by the magnetic practice, in certain disor- 
ders whose character is well marked, such as rheumatisms, 
intermittent fevers, glandular enlargements, contusions, 
&c, is a proof of its efficaciousness in diseases of the 
same kind. 

I have now pointed out the kinds of knowledge to be 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 207 

acquired, and the objects requiring attention, if you wish to 
examine the general subject of magnetism, to determine the 
rank it occupies among the grand phenomena of animated 
nature, to discover its laws, and to fix its applications. But 
I have not yet spoken of the plan to be pursued to gain 
skill in the practice, without which the notions drawn from 
books amount to nothing. I have merely said it is neces- 
sary to pass from the most simple to the most complex 
facts, and this is all that the method of study proper for 
magnetism has in common with what is appropriate to 
other sciences. In these, the more ardor one has for the 
work, the more activity in vanquishing obstacles, the more 
desire of discovering truth, the greater will be his prog- 
ress. In the investigation of magnetism, these qualities 
would be more injurious than useful, if they were not 
united with much reserve, patience, and moderation. In 
the physical sciences, and even in medicine, there are two 
means of acquiring knowledge — observation and experi- 
ment ; in the practice of magnetism, there is but one, — for 
he who magnetizes ought never to make experiments. He 
should let the phenomena present and develope themselves, 
and note them down after each sitting. 

The most difficult thing for a magnetizer who wishes to 
gain instruction is, that he must have in himself, as it were, 
two persons, who must not exist together, but successively ; 
one to act, and the other to reason. 

While you are magnetizing, you must occupy yourself 
wholly with the cure of the patient, to whom you have 
devoted your time. You must not investigate ; you must 
not take note of any thing ; you must withdraw from all 
prejudices, opinions, and knowledge : even reason itself 
ought not to be busy ; the soul ought to have but one fac- 
ulty active, — the will to do good ; the mind but one idea, 
— confidence of success.* 

But after the termination of the sitting, you will recall 

* You must conform to this precept not only when you are your- 
self magnetizing, but also when you are admitted to see phenomena. 
You must then unite intentions with the magnetizer, and look on 
attentively without permitting yourself to form any judgement. In 
a. word, you must conduct yourself when you assist at a magnetic 
sitting, just as if you were carrying on the process yourself, with this 
single difference, that, when you are merely a witness, you must not 
sxert your will but in subordination to that of the magnetizer. 



208 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

to your mind what you have seen ; you will take note of it ; 
you will combine all the circumstances, search into the 
causes, and try to reach results which will be more certain 
as succeeding observations confirm them. The magnetizer, 
while acting, should have unbounded confidence ; he should 
doubt of nothing. But when he takes note of the phenom- 
ena presented to him, he should be distrustful, doubtful of 
every thing, and admit no fact except upon incontestable 
evidence ; no principle, unless supported by a series of 
observations congruent with themselves, and which are 
not contrary to any of the received truths of physics and 
physiology. 

This self-denial is a thing very difficult to men habitu- 
ated to observe coolly, and to men who suffer themselves 
to be carried off by their imagination : and this is the 
reason why men who possess simplicity of character and 
little knowledge of the subject, are often more proper to 
cure diseases, than those who are versed in the sciences, 
and especially than those who have a lively imagination. 

Greatrakes, the Irish gentleman, who was so successful 
in curing various diseases, was neither a learned man, nor 
an enthusiast. 

Many rustics and matrons, who believe they possess the 
gift of healing, — some of them, bruises ; others, the tooth- 
ache ; and others, attacks of fevers, — often succeed ; and 
if they were more enlightened they might not succeed 
so well. 

When I laid it down as a principle that the magnetizer 
ought to interdict himself from all experiment, I wished to 
speak solely of the direct action which one individual ex- 
erts over another by an emanation from himself, imparted 
by his will and by the appropriate processes, and of the 
natural developement of phenomena which this action pro- 
duces. But this principle is no longer applicable, or at 
least it should be modified, as it respects modes of treat- 
ment, or the means of directing, strengthening, and con- 
centrating the action which magnetism may exert of itself, 
when once put in motion. Upon this subject, a man who 
has well studied the particular effects of this agent, and 
who has an acquaintance with the physical and natural 
sciences, ought to permit himself various trials, to ascertain 
the best means of employing an agent which is, perhaps, 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OP MAGNETISM. 209 

diffused through all nature. For instance, what relates to 
the construction of baquets, or magnetic reservoirs; to the 
direction of extensive treatments; to the employment of the 
chain, and to the precautions it requires; to the influence 
exerted by certain substances ; to the property which cer- 
tain substances have of imparting a particular quality to 
the fluid passing through them ; to the question whether 
there are bodies which insulate the magnetic fluid* or re- 
tard its action, and others which are conductors of its ac- 
tion, or concentrate it so as to render it stronger ; to the 
difference which the seasons, the hour of the day, the 
presence or the absence of the light, the temperature, the 
state of the atmosphere, &c, can make in the effects of 
magnetism ; and, finally, to the action of magnetism upon 
animals, and even upon vegetables. All this cannot be 
known except by trials made prudently, but frequently, 
and taking note of all the circumstances. Let no one be 
in haste to form a theory ; for it is easy to select facts in 
support of such an hypothesis as one might desire to ima- 
gine, without having this scaffolding of plausible proofs serve 
for the erection of a solid edifice. It is necessary for a 
long time to collect all the known facts ; to group, to ar- 
range, to class them, and to remain in doubt in relation 
to the causes, until we see a theory spring spontaneously 
from their arrangement, and until the applications and the 
consequences of this theory lead to results seen and an- 
nounced beforehand. 

A man of distinguished learning has just published, in 
Germany, a work, in two volumes octavo, in which he con- 
siders magnetism in all its relations. He believes there is 
in magnetism two different actions — one which depends 



* What we call the magnetic fluid may be, as Van Helmont 
thought, and as Kieser believes, an agent which penetrates all bodies. 
The recent discoveries of M. CErsted, of M. Ampere, and of many 
other celebrated physicians ; the researches of Messieurs Provost and 
Dumas, and of various physiologists, upon the influence of electri- 
city in the phenomena of the animal economy ; the observations of 
M. de Humboldt upon the electric gymnotus, &c, may give us some 
light upon this subject. But the problem does not consist in this ; 
it is in the power which man has of directing this fluid, of modifying 
it, of communicating to it such or such a virtue. This problem I 
believe to be incapable of solution, because our external senses teach 
us nothing about the internal principle of life. 

18* 



210 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [cHAP. X. 

upon a vital principle spread throughout nature, and circu- 
lating in all bodies; the other, the same principle, modified 
by man, animated by his spirit, and directed by his will. 
He thinks that the first sort of magnetism, which he calls 
tellurism, or siderism, can be employed without the con- 
currence of the human will, and solely by the action of 
certain mineral or vegetable substances. According to 
him, a baquet regularly constructed can, without having 
been magnetized, act upon a patient who comes to place 
himself there every day for a certain time, and produce, in 
the course of time, most of the phenomena obtained by the 
magnetic processes. I invite philosophers to examine this 
theory. My ignorance of the German language does not 
permit me to judge of it ; but the testimony of Kieser is of 
great weight ; and if, as I suppose, there is reason to reject 
his theory, there is none at all to deny the facts upon which 
he sustains it, and which are certainly worthy of attention. 
This is not the place to enter into greater details upon 
the researches to which a person should devote himself, 
when he wishes to study magnetism as a science. He 
who has this object in view will learn, by reading the 
works published within a few years, what things ought 
most particularly to fix his attention. I merely recommend 
to him not to neglect any thing; to consult the works of 
the enemies of magnetism as well as those of its partisans; 
to search out, in the books of historians, philosophers, and 
physicians, phenomena analogous to those which the prac- 
tice of magnetism brings to our view ; to separate them 
from all the hypotheses to which they have given birth, and 
not to be hasty in adopting general principles. By reading 
the works published upon magnetism in the various schools, 
from Van Helmont to the present time, we shall soon 
perceive that there are effects which have been exhibited 
every where, always with the same characteristics; and 
phenomena which are presented only in certain schools 
and by certain magnetizers, and which one might vainly 
seek to reproduce himself. These phenomena ought not 
to be rejected ; the most of them are real, though often at- 
tributed to chimerical causes: people have drawn errone- 
ous conclusions from them, and you cannot use too much 
care to distinguish facts in themselves from the colors with 
which they have been invested by enthusiastic and credu- 
lous narrators. 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 211 

I have now pointed out the road for you to follow, if you 
would reach the elevation from whence you may behold 
the subject in all its extent, penetrate its depths, see through 
the veil which covers some of its mysteries, free it from 
what does not belong to it, and determine the part it acts 
in the drama of Nature. But upon the route I have traced 
out, there are stumbling-blocks of which I should warn 
you, because it is essential to avoid them if you would 
make a just application of the knowledge you have acquired 
by reading and observation. 

I have said that one would gain but vague ideas from 
books, if he had not been first convinced, by his own expe- 
rience, of the power of magnetism. The phenomena of 
somnambulism which it offers are truly wonderful and in- 
structive, and it is impossible to get a conception of them 
if you have not seen some of them with your own eyes. 
The various relations that have been given contain facts 
so unlike in appearance, that you cannot perceive the tie 
which connects them, — so marvellous, that you are dazzled, 
and know not on what to rest your faith. When you have 
once produced these extraordinary phenomena yourself, 
you are at least convinced of their reality ; and you might 
employ the time which you would, perhaps, have uselessly 
sacrificed in satisfying yourself by reading, in examining 
its successive stages and its circumstances. Even in this 
case, much attention and prudence are requisite, to dis- 
criminate, in the discourses and in the perceptions of som- 
nambulists, what appertains to the exaltation of the senses, 
to the nervous susceptibility, to the influence of acquired 
ideas, to the errors of the imagination, from the manifes- 
tation or the developement of a real faculty, absolutely for- 
eign to those which we enjoy in our ordinary state. I 
have many examples of somnambulists endowed with an 
astonishing clairvoyance, in the exercise of their new fac- 
ulty applied to things positive and within their scope, who 
would speak at random if asked by what means they were 
enabled to see, and especially when requested to speak on 
subjects which excite their imagination. I would compare 
somnambulism to a microscope which causes objects at its 
focus to be distinctly seen, though imperceptible to the 
naked eye ; but, on this side of or beyond the focus, the 
rays cross each other, the hues become more brilliant, and 



212 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

the images are wholly distorted. The clairvoyance of 
somnambulists, inconceivable as it is, is not less incontest- 
able ; there is no exaggeration in what has been related 
concerning it; but it is in each individual limited to cer- 
tain objects, and confined to a certain order of ideas ; and 
it is only by comparison between great numbers of facts, 
in which truth has been separated from illusion, that you 
will be enabled to perceive the extent of which it is sus- 
ceptible, what is its origin, and what are the conditions 
which favor its developement. If two magnetizers were 
each to form a theory of somnambulism from the facts ex- 
hibited by their respective somnambulists, it is very proba- 
ble that those theories would not resemble each other. I 
go further, and affirm that, by reasoning from some phe- 
nomena considered separately, a person might form not 
only the strangest hypotheses, but might also be induced to 
deny even the reality of magnetism. 

I have told you to how many errors you may be exposed 
by an incomplete and limited examination of the phenom- 
ena. I ought now to advert to those which spring from 
an inconsiderate application of the branches of knowledge 
which do not belong to magnetism. 

I am convinced that a person will never make a real 
progress in the science of magnetism when he looks for 
its principles in other sciences. To explain magnetic phe- 
nomena by the laws of electricity or galvanism, by anatom- 
ical considerations of the functions of the brain and nerves, 
would be very much like explaining vegetation by crystal- 
ography. It is essential for learned men and physicians 
to know that the most profound knowledge of physics and 
of physiology will never lead them to the discovery of the 
theory of magnetism; yet this knowledge will be useful to 
secure the observers from many errors, by enabling them 
to distinguish what belongs to magnetism from what is 
due to other causes, by furnishing them the means of veri- 
fication, by authorizing them to reject all consequences 
essentially contrary to well-known physical laws. 

Magnetism, considered as an agent, is entirely different 
from the other agents of nature. It has its own laws, which 
are not identical with the laws of matter. Considered as a 
science, it has peculiar principles, which cannot be known 
except by observation, no idea of which can be caught from 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OP MAGNETISM. 213 

known sciences. So much I can say with certainty ; but I 
permit myself here to add an opinion, common with me 
and many enlightened men, but which I merely propose as 
an opinion 

The theory of magnetism is based upon this great prin- 
ciple, that there is in nature two sorts of elements, radical- 
ly different in their characteristics and properties, — spirit 
and matter; that these two elements act, the one upon 
the other, but each one possessing laws peculiar to itself. 
Among the laws that regulate the action of matter upon 
matter, many have been successively brought to light by 
observation, determined by calculation, and verified by ex- 
periment : such are the laws of motion, of attraction, of 
electricity, of the transmission of light, &c. It is not so 
with the mind ; although the existence of our soul has been 
demonstrated, and many of its faculties are known to us, 
its nature is a mystery, its union with organized matter in- 
conceivable, and most of the laws by which mind acts upon 
mind are unknown. Living bodies which are composed 
of mind and matter,* act upon living bodies by the combi 
nation of the peculiar properties of the two. It is perceiv 
able that there are in this action two distinct elements, and 
a mixed element. The knowledge of the laws that govern 
them constitutes the science of magnetism ; and it is only 
by observing, contrasting, and comparing, the various phe- 
nomena, that we can arrive at the discovery and the eluci 
dation of these laws. 

Hence it follows that those who would establish a theory 
of magnetism upon the properties of matter, and those who 
search for it wholly in the faculties of the soul, strike 



* Instead of recognizing only two elements in man, it would per- 
haps be more exact to distinguish three, — the soul, the body, and an 
intermediate element, which is the principle of life. This was the 
opinion of the ancients, who designated the last as the spirit, or the 
chariot of the soul, {char de V ame.) This is also the opinion of most 
somnambulists who have reached the highest degree of clairvoyance. 
It will be perceived that this metaphysical question is foreign to my 
subject. I speak of it merely to avoid the imputation of not know- 
ing it. That there are in sentient beings two elements essentially 
different, is an incontestable fact : one is matter, the other is not. 

The principle of life is distinct from matter, because it is a princi- 
ple which acts upon matter and organizes it ; it is distinct from the 
principle of intelligence, because the plants are alive. 



214 OP THE STUDY OP MAGNETISM. [CHAP. X. 

equally aside of the truth. Magnetism, being an emana- 
tion from ourselves, directed by volition, partakes equally 
of the two elements which compose our being. 

This is not the place to enlarge upon this idea. The 
object I proposed to myself being to teach the practice of 
magnetism, it is rather to restrain than to excite the per- 
sons who wish to study it profoundly, that I have permit- 
ted myself to lay down the route they should follow, and 
the difficulties they must vanquish to effect their object. 
Longer details would be useless; I will therefore merely 
sum up, in a brief way, what I have said in this chapter. 

To practise magnetism, you have need only of will, con- 
fidence, and charity ; and all the books which have been 
written since men have been treating it as a discovery, 
would add nothing essential to the principles proclaimed 
by M. de Puysegur ; namely, an active will to do good; a 
jirm belief in our 'power ; and an entire confidence in em- 
ploying it. To examine into the cause and the similarity 
of the phenomena, you must have first acquired, by your 
own experience, an entire conviction of the power of the 
agent. Next, you must have gained a general acquaintance 
with the natural laws, then of the organization of man, and 
of the various conditions in which he is found; and, finally, 
you must rise to another class of ideas, in order to become 
acquainted with the influence of mind upon organized 
matter, and to explain how one man acts upon another by 
his will. 

Let us thank Heaven that the exercise of a faculty so 
useful, so sublime, as that of magnetism, demands only sin- 
gleness of faith, purity of intention, and the developement 
of a natural sentiment which connects us with the suffer- 
ings of our fellow-men, and inspires us with the desire and 
the hope of relieving them. What need have we to consult 
the wavering decisions of the mind, when we may act effi- 
caciously by abandoning ourselves to the impulse of the 
heart? 



217 



APPENDIX 



NOTE 1. 



This work ivas originally published in three parts, and the appen- 
dix of each part embraced such communications as were received at 
the time of its publication. It was then intended to make a new 
arrangement of these and the translator's notes as soon as another 
edition should be put to press ; but, on refection, it seems better to 
preserve the original form, and to add the new ones at the con- 
clusion. 

It must now appear to every one conversant with Mesmerism, that 
many of the experiments detailed in this Appendix must have been 
injurious to the subjects of them, and can find no excuse except in 
the inexperience of those who permitted them, and in their strong 
desire to convince scientific men of the power of this agency, then re- 
cently introduced to our notice. It is, however, useful to let them 
remain, since they tend to lessen the public curiosity to see them re- 
peated, in proportion to the authenticity by which they are sup- 
ported ; and since they establish, by the most respectable testimony, 
the fact of the wonderful influence which may be exercised. To 
tliat portion of the correspondence to which physicians of high 
standing have contributed, we must look for the legitimate exercise 
of this agency. In such hands, it is destined to produce much 
good, as an auxiliary to medicine. 



NOTE II. — Page 25. 

A child about nine years of age, attending the school of Miss 
S***, in this city, was, about a month ago, during an intermission, 
found to be asleep in the school -room. One of the young scholars 
came and gave information. Miss S # * # and others tried to rouse 
her ; but, not succeeding, they became alarmed. A young medical 
student, a son of Commodore John Orde Creighton, being called 
in, soon perceived that she was in a magnetic sleep. A little girl, 
about ten years old, betrayed her agency in the matter by bursting 
into tears. She was so much terrified at the result of the mis- 
19 



218 appendix. 

chief, that Miss S*** called her into another room, soothed her 
distress, and told her she need not be frightened ; she had only 
to go to Anne, and ask her to wake up. This was done. She 
merely spoke to her, and she came out of her magnetic state, 
with that smile upon her visage which is peculiar to those who 
are gently roused from it. 

The child had been once before, and only once, put into 
the somnambulic state. It was effected in about five minutes, 
by a lady who had never before tried her hand at this business. 

I learned these particulars from Mr. Benjamin Cozzens, and 
Mr. Joseph Balch, Jr. 

An instance of the power of magnetizing without manipula- 
tion, and causing sleep at the first trial, is afforded in the case of 
a woman who, being in a nervous state, was put to sleep for the 
first time by her husband, in the course of fifteen minutes, with- 
out her knowing any thing of his intention ; she sitting at one 
part of the room, and he in another. When she was asleep, he 
went into an adjoining room, out of her direct vision, and, taking 
down a book, began to read it. After being some time in the mag- 
netic state, she was awakened. She related correctly what he had 
done, and evinced the usual proofs of clairvoyance. The gentle- 
man is a resident of this city, a friend of mine, on whose veracity 
I can depend. 

Dr. ## *, of this city, informed me that one of his daughters, 
seven years of age, put her little sister, between two and three 
years of age, into a deep magnetic sleep, so that her mother 
could not rouse her. Some time afterwards, she was very eager 
to experience the effect again, and cried because she was not 
permitted to be magnetized. See page 152. 

An instance occurred of one boy's putting another into the 
same state, which was related to me by an eye-witness of the 
fact It took place in this city. 



NOTE III. — Page 40. 

The power exercised over the imagination of the patient is 
not the least singular thing connected with the subject. The 
success of all experiments of this kind depends upon the control 
which the magnetizer has over his own imagination, as well as 
upon the strength which belongs to it. A long practice will 
enable a man to call up a clear conception of the axticle which 
he wishes to administer ; and he will succeed in proportion to the 
clearness and strength of this conception, other things being equal. 

A glass of water being held in your hand, you will cause the 
magnetizer to be called into another room, where a person whom 
you select will whisper to him what you wish to have it taste like. 



APPENDIX. 219 

The magnetizer returns, fixes his mind upon the glass of water, 
to impart to it the desired quality, and requests the somnambulist 
to take it from your hand and drink it. He will then ask him 
what he is drinking 1 . The somnambulist rarely fails to tell, if it 
be any thing with which he is acquainted. It may be he is but 
slightly acquainted with the liquor whose taste is induced into 
the glass of water : in this case is evidently involved' another 
condition to render the trial satisfactory, viz., the patient must 
know the article attempted to be imposed upon him. 

An empty glass does as well as a full one. A peach may thus 
be transformed into an apple, a pear, an iron ball, &c. A hand- 
kerchief folded may be changed into a child, a cat, or a dog, 
and thrown into the lap. In the first case, it will be fondled ; in 
the second, thrown off with violence, or caressed, as the feeling 
or the prejudice may happen to be. 

Nor is it the fact, as some suppose, that the effect is produced 
merely upon the imagination of the patient. Any medicine 
which the magnetizer can form a strong conception of may be 
administered in this manner, and will be accompanied with all 
its usual effects, as if it were really taken. This is a well- 
known and common fact. 

This brings me to the design of this note. At page 39, men- 
tion is made of magnetized water. An explanation of its uses, 
and of the manner of preparing it, will be found on the 56tb 
page. Water is magnetized by making a few passes along the 
vessel containing it, stirring it Avith the thumb, and accompany- 
ing the action with a steady exercise of the will, as to the effects 
which it shall produce. This experiment differs from the ones 
described above, since they were to influence the taste merely. 
In the present case, the taste is not altered much, and sometimes 
not at all. " The patient generally distinguishes it from other 
water by a peculiar sensation which it excites in the stomach." 



NOTE IV. — Page 76. 

Clairvoyance. — This term is used to denote the faculty 
peculiar to somnambulists and epileptic persons, which enables 
them to see things near, and also things distant, without appear- 
ing to use the eye. It seems to be a more expressive word than 
any in the English language that could be brought to convey its 
meaning, because the idea meant to be conveyed is peculiar ; and 
we must either limit a familiar word to one of its significations, 
invent a new one, or adopt that which is already introduced, and 
is appropriate in the technology of magnetism. Its literal signi- 
fication is, clear-sightedness; its technological signification is s 
clear-sightedness in the somnambulic state. 



220 



APPENDIX. 



Somnambulists, when they wish to examine an object atten- 
tively, generally press it lightly against the epigastrium. The 
translator has seen one case where the seat of vision was on the 
back part of the head ; and another, where it was on one side of 
the head, near the organ designated by Spurzheim as alimentive- 
ness. The objects examined, such as bank bills, and the super- 
scriptions of letters, are always held with the blank side next to 
the seat of vision, so as to be read from right to left. 

Mr. Stephen Covill, of Troy, New York, being desirous of 
testing the clairvoyant power of one of our somnambulists, and 
being withal a skeptic, notwithstanding the evidence offered by 
the statements and by the thorough convictions of some of his 
own friends, wrote a sentence upon a piece of paper, without the 
knowledge of any person, enclosed it between two thick cards, 
folded them all up in a deep-blue sheet of paper, to prevent the 
transmission of light, took the precaution to seal it with his own 
seal and a number of wafers, and put the whole into a larger 
sheet, directed to Mr. Isaac Thurber. Mr. Thurber presented 
the letter, sealed, as it came, to Miss Brackett, while she was in 
the somnambulic state, in the presence of Mr. Henry Hopkins, 
and a number of others, and requested her to read the contents 
without breaking the seals. Miss B. took the letter with her on 
retiring for the night. In the morning she gave the following 
as the sentence contained therein, which Mr. Hopkins wrote 
down at her dictation : — 

" No other than the eye of Omnipotence can read this in this 
envelopement. * * * * # * 1837." 

The letter was then sent back in an envelope, the seals not 
having been broken, with the above sentence written upon the 
outside of it. There was something where the stars are placed 
which she could not read. 

This number will be published before an answer can be 
received, from Troy. In the second number, it shall be made 
known, whatever may be its purport. The following letter may 
serve to show on what basis we raise our confidence : — 

" Sir : Previous to the experiment of Mr. Stephen Covill, of 
Troy, I had done this thing to try the clairvoyant power of Miss B. 
I wrote this sentence on a sheet of paper, " Animal Magnetism 
may be rendered useful" and carefully folded up the sheet so that 
the writing was covered with three thicknesses, sealing it with 
four seals. I then directed it to Dr. Capron, with a request 
that he would find out the contents of the letter, and write the 
same on the back of it. No person but myself knew what was 
in it Dr. Capron brought it the next day to my counting-room, 
and it was opened in the presence of a number of witnesses, 



APPENDIX. 221 

"The writing on the back corresponded exactly with the writing 
inside, and°the seals had not been broken. 

" On another occasion, Miss B., who, by the way, is perfectly 
blind in the natural state, as Mr. Jesse Metcalf will inform you, — 
for she has resided many weeks in his family, — recognized a lady 
of her acquaintance in a house about a quarter of a mile off. 
Miss B. had never been there till that morning, and then only in 
spirit. My object in sending her to that house was, to see if 
she would recognize that lady, who, I knew, was there on a 
visit Yours, 

"ISAAC THURBER." 

In order to prove whether a somnambulist can really visit a 
place where he has never been before, and describe the present 
appearance of things there, many trials have been made. One 
of these was made by a young lady in this city, who sent a som- 
nambulist to the residence of her father, and received a satisfac- 
tory description of it. After the sitting was at an end, she in- 
vited the patient to go home with her ; and as the latter had been 
told to remember, when awake, what she had seen when in the 
magnetic state, she readily told at the door of several rooms 
what she had seen within. 

Still the suspicion very naturally remained, that the somnam- 
bulist derives all his notions from the mind of the person in com- 
munication, which, though it be an astounding circumstance, 
would induce us to view the subject in an entirely different light 
To try this, I one day put an old spike into a gun-barrel, and 
placed it about four or five feet from my writing-desk, against the 
wall. I then sent a note to Dr. Brownell, who was with one of 
his patients in the somnambulic state, requesting him to ask her 
what was in a gun-barrel lying on my desk. The lad who car- 
ried the note did not know its contents, and did not go into the 
house, but came immediately back. In about thirty minutes, a 
line came from Dr. Brownell, stating that there was no gun-bar- 
rel on my desk ; but that there was one leaning against the wall 
a short distance from it Other facts affording similar proofs 
are abundant. It is proper to state that the gun-barrel had prob- 
ably never been in the room before. 

A still more interesting proof is exhibited in the following re- 
lation, which, 1 am authorized to say, is true in all its important 
facts, and is known to have created a great sensation at the time. 
Fortunately the witnesses are gentlemen of high standing, and 
of scientific attainments, whose words are the currency of truth. 
The relation is extracted from a long and interesting article in 
the " Salem Gazette." 

** Dr. b**##*#* ? f Providence, operated upon a young lady, 
19* 



222 APPENDIX. 

who, during the period of magnetic sleep, frequently left the 
body, and could see and hear without the aid of eyes or ears. 
She could tell correctly the time by a watch, though enveloped 
in a cloth, and at the same time having a bandage over her eyes. 
The doctor had a patient, sick, as was believed, of the liver com- 
plaint, and bade the girl, who was sitting near him, go (in spirit) 
to the man's house. Arrived, she, at the doctor's request, de- 
scribed the house, that there might be no mistake, and then en- 
tered. ' What do you see ? ' asked Dr. B. ' A man sick.' ' Now 
I want you to tell me what ails him. First look at his head ; 
is that well?' 'Yes.' 'How do you know? Do you mean to 
say that you see the internal organization ? ' ' Yes.' ' Is the 
liver, heart, &c, well ? ' ' Yes ; it looks just the same as yours, 
or anybody's else.' ' Well, do you see any thing wrong?' « Yes, 
there is an enlargement of the spleen.' Several questions were 
then put to confuse her, and also to ascertain if she knew what 
the spleen was, and where situated ; to all which she gave satis- 
factory replies. Still the doctor was incredulous. But now 
comes the proof. In four days, the man died ; and Dr. B., having 
obtained permission to institute a, post mortem examination, called 
on every physician in the city, and narrated the story of the girl. 
In presence of several of them, the body was subsequently open- 
ed, when, to their surprise, the girl was right — all that ailed the 
man was an enlargement of the spleen. 

" What shall we say to this fact ? It is substantiated beyond 
the possibility of a doubt, as may be learned by any one passing 
through Providence. Shall we set it down among the list of 
curious coincidences, or admit that the girl actually possessed a 
supernatural sense of vision, and that, for the time being, her im- 
mortal spirit, released from the body, roved freely and at the wili 
of the operator ! 

" As in the state of vision, the fact is no more strange than in 
the well-attested case of the famed Springfield somnambulist 
Now, if we admit that the soul, in this case, saw without the aid 
of the eyes, why not admit that, in certain states of the nervous 
system, other senses or faculties of the mind may also act inde- 
pendently of their material organs ? We know the soul thus 
exists after death, and why not in the state of temporary death 
caused by animal magnetism ? What know we of the nature of 
that deathless spark within us ? And if we allow that it may, 
without the body, enter the next room, we cannot deny the pos- 
sibility that it may in the same manner annihilate time and space, 
and travel hundreds of miles as easily and quickly as it can so 
many feet 

" But some say, ' We cannot believe that God has given such a 
dangerous power to the human will. It is out of the common 
order of nature ; it is a miracle ; we cannot believe it' But 
who can set bounds to the dominion of the human will ? Man 



APPENDIX. 223 

— before the steady gaze of whose eye the forest-king trembles 
and flees ; whose power extends to the huge dwellers in ocean's 
unfathomed infinite : man — at whose nod the giant oak, which 
for centuries has braved heaven's thunderbolts, falls prostrate, 
and rises again in beauty to adorn his mansion; who lays his 
will upon the everlasting rock, and it becomes as wax ; whose 
highway is earth, and air, and ocean ; whose servant is the light- 
ning; w r hose intellect spans earth and encircles heaven ; thinking, 
reasoning, godlike man — who can set bounds to the untried 
power of his mysterious will ? Who shall say to it, ' Thus far 
shalt thou come, and no farther ' ? 

" Now, though, in the above-mentioned cases, our will operates 
through more tangible means, the facts, were they not so com- 
mon, are as wonderful as the alleged fact that this same mighty 
agent, operating through the nervous system, produces all the 
wonders of animal magnetism. If actual experiment demon- 
strates the fact, fools may laugh, but wise men believe ; and, be- 
lieving, bow down and adore with deeper reverence that Great 
Being from whose almighty will these millions of human wills 
emanated." 

On reading this communication, which nearly accorded with 
what I had heard stated, I conversed with Dr. B., who is one 
of our oldest physicians, and asked him whether trie statement 
there made was correct. He replied that it was, in substance ; 
but some of the particulars were imperfectly stated. He gave 
me the following account : — 

" The patient lived more than a quarter of a mile from my resi- 
dence. I requested a somnambulist, then at my house, to see if 
she could find such a man, at the same time pointing out to her 
the situation of the house, which was not in sight from the room 
where we continued all the time. She saw him. On being asked 
in what room, she replied, in the third room back from the street. 
She was then requested to describe the situation of the furniture 
in it, in order to discover whether she had got into the right 
place, and whether her clairvoyance might be trusted to at that 
time: she described it very exactly. 

" I then told her my patient had been sick a long time, and de- 
sired her to examine him, and tell what the disease was. 

" She said, 'He looks so bad I do not like to do it' I replied, 
'Never mind that; it looks bad to you, because you have not 
been accustomed to looking at the interior of a body.' 

" As I supposed him to be affected with a diseased liver, and 
with indigestion arising from a diseased state of the stomach, I 
asked her to look at the stomach, to see if that was diseased; she 
answered, ' No.' 

" « Is the liver diseased ? ' ' No.' 



224 APPENDIX. 

" * Well, examine the whole intestinal canal, and see if there is 
any disease there.' 

" ' I do not see any,' said she. 

" « Examine the kidneys.' ' Nothing is the matter with them.' 

" Not knowing what other part to call her attention to, I re- 
quested her to look at every part of him. 

" After some little time, she says, ' His spleen is swelled ; it is 
enlarged.' 

" ' His spleen ! ' said I ; ' when we speak of a person who is 
spleeny, we suppose he has an imaginary complaint What do 
you mean ? ' 

" Said she, ' The part called the spleen is enlarged.' 

" * How do you know it is enlarged ? ' t 

" ' It is a great deal larger than yours.' 

" ' Do you see mine ? ' ' Yes.' 

u ' How large is his spleen ? ' 

" ' It is a great deal longer and thicker than your hand.' 

" I then asked her to put her hand where the spleen is situated. 
She immediately placed her hand over the region of the spleen. 

" I then asked her what the shape of the stomach was. She 
replied, that it was like a flower in the garden. I was not ac- 
quainted with that flower, and do not recollect the name she 
gave it 

" I then requested her to recollect all about this, saying I 
wished to talk with her about it when she awoke. 

" After she came out of the somnambulic state, she was asked 
whether she remembered having examined the sick person. She 
remembered it. 

" ' What part did you tell me was diseased ? ' After a little 
consideration, she replied, 'I believe I told you the spleen is 
enlarged.' 

" ' How came you to call it the spleen ? ' 

" ' I do not know.' 

" 'Did you ever hear any description of the internal organs, or 
see any plates of them ? ' ' No.' 

" ' Should you know the plate representing the stomach, if you 
were to see it ? ' 

" ' I think I should, if it looked like it.' 

" ' I will go into the library, and bring out some plates, to see 
whether you know the internal organs.' 

" While I was gone into the library, she said to a lady present 
4 Every once in a while I saw fluids pass from his stomach into 
his bowels.' 

" On returning with the volume of plates, in order to ascertain 
whether she really distinguished the different organs, I showed 
her a plate somewhat resembling the stomach, and asked her if 
that was what she saw for the stomach. She said, « No.' Turn- 
ing to several plates in succession, she declared that neither of 
them resembled the stomach. 



APPENDIX. 225 

« Then turning- to the true plate, as if accidentally, while throw- 
ing open the leaves, intending to pass it by, unless she noticed 
it, — she immediately cried out, ' That's it ; that's what I saw for 
the stomach.' 

" I then conversed with her in relation to the other viscera ; and 
she gave a very correct description of them, as she had done in 
her sleep. I asked her if she had conversed upon the subject, 
or seen any plates of the internal organs. She declared she 
never had. 

" Seven days after this, the patient was taken more seriously 
ill, and died on Saturday, the third day following. 

" On Monday, a. post mortem examination took place ; previous 
to which I invited all the physicians whom I could find in 
the city. 

" Eighteen persons were present, of whom sixteen were physi- 
cians. 

" I then stated all the particulars of the examination by the 
somnambulic patient, and requested the physicians to examine 
the body to see if they could discover the diseased spleen from 
external examination. They, with one voice, declared they 
could not. 

" I then opened the body, and, to the utter astonishment of the 
physicians present, found the spleen so enlarged as to weigh fifty- 
seven ounces. Its usual weight is from four to six ounces. 

" No other disease was perceptible, except a general inflam- 
mation, which, no doubt, came on about three days before his 
death."* 



NOTE V. — Page 165. 

Among the somnambulists that I have seen, there has been a 
peculiar delicacy exhibited while in the magnetic state. Though 
the magnetizer undoubtedly possesses the power of changing the 
appearance of things to their perception, — such as turning an 
apple into a walnut, and water into lemonade, — yet he, probably, 
cannot destroy that native sense of propriety which seems to be 
quickened in the somnambulist 

* "Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn: 

" Sir : In the account you have given, from conversation with me, 
of the discovery of the diseased spleen, you have stated that all the physi- 
cians present at the pose mortem examination, declared they could not 
discover, by external manipulation, any enlargement of that organ. Two 
of those gentlemen have since told me that they, individually, did not 
make such examination. I therefore beg you would make this correction 
in your second edition. A general invitation was given to examine the 
body. If there were any who did not do it, it was presumable that they 
were satisfied with the examination of those who took that trouble. B," 



226 APPENDIX. 

Foissac says, page 392, that " when M. de Puysegur saw, in 
1784, the control which he exercised over somnambulists, he was 
affrighted at the thought that others might turn aside this power 
from its holy intention. But all his patients declared to him that 
they preserved in that state their judgement and their reason ; that 
they perceived very quickly the designs of the magnetizer, and 
that these could readily cause them to awake. The authors 1 
have cited in the preceding paragraph are of the same opinion. 
My somnambulists have told me exactly the same things. If, 
then, some instances of a contrary nature are thrown out against 
us, I will say that magnetism has been the pretext, and not the 
cause, of these disorders ; because it does not take from all those 
who practise it, the vicious propensities of their hearts, and all 
the abuses of which complaint is made, would have existed as 
much without it as with it." 



i +**' NOTE VI. — Page 71. 

The gentlemen who have practised magnetism in this country 
have arrived to the observation of the same general rules which 
govern the more experienced practitioners of Europe. This is 
the more remarkable, since they have been obliged to depend 
upon the experience which they gained from their own practice, 
through a want of proper means of information. This fact, about 
the consequences of making short passes before the head, which 
M. Deleuze calls charging it too much, was observed to me by 
one of them who had never read on the subject. 



NOTE VII. — Page 48—90. 

It is not to be wondered at, then, if some rough attempts made 
to rouse a somnambulist, by persons who doubted the reality of 
the sleep, have effected the object and thrown a temporary sus- 
picion upon Mesmerism itself, as though it professed to do what 
it could not perform. One instance of this kind has sometimes 
produced strong skepticism in the minds of many persons. Hence 
it is proper to know that there is always a liability, though a 
very slender probability, of having a patient waked by such 
means. Unfortunately, the curious phenomena must be exhibited, 
before magnetism can gain converts to faith in its curative and 
restorative virtues ; and few are satisfied with hearing about the 
power possessed by somnambulists, of visiting in spirit the houses 
of their neighbors and friends ; each one claims the privilege of 
sending one into his own house, and hearing his own furniture 



APPENDIX. 227 

described. They want the proof of Didymus ; and when they 
have obtained it, they depart in wonder and astonishment, like 
the woman of Samaria from the well of Sychar, and relate what 
they have seen, to excite the wonder and astonishment of others. 
Hence they who merely hear of these phenomena, form an esti- 
mate of the subject not from its real utility, but from its curious 
nature. And there is some danger of having its curative and 
restorative powers overlooked in the rage of curiosity. When 
this rage shall have subsided, the magnetizers will have leisure 
to pursue their avocation without interruption. Jlnd the maxims 
of the benevolent Deleuze, who forbids such experiments, will com- 
mand the respect and the attention which they deserve. 



NOTE VIII. — Page 90. 
PARALYSIS. 

The translator has himself witnessed the exertion of this par- 
alyzing power, both upon patients who were in the magnetic 
sleep, and upon others while they were not. He has not, however, 
seen a person paralyze the limbs of another who had never been 
put into the magnetic sleep by him. It seems to be a necessary 
condition that a perfect communication shall have been established 
at some previous time. The power which is gained by the prac- 
tice of magnetism is, however, so great, that it may be found to 
be effectual in a trial of this kind, without this condition. 

When the patient is in the state of magnetic sleep, this paral- 
ysis of the limbs, of the muscles of the face, of the tongue, and 
of the eyelids, has been produced in the presence of many per- 
sons, who tried all means to detect imposture or mistake. The 
magnetizer would act, by the will merely, upon the part indicated 
on a slip of paper thrust into his hands, he continuing at the dis- 
tance of eight or ten feet from the person whose limbs were to 
be paralyzed, and not uttering a single audible word. Nor was 
this effect produced by strangers whom we do not know. On 
the contrary, they are our own citizens, in whom we have perfect 
confidence as to their integrity of purpose ; and who have never 
been known to be devoted to tricks of legerdemain and diablerie. 

" Providence, August 25, 1837. 

"Sir: In the 'Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism,' 
which I am now publishing in English, the author mentions the 
power that some magnetizers have of paralyzing the limbs of a 
patient in the magnetic state. But the instance which you re- 
cently related to me is so much more extraordinary, that I wish 



228 



APPENDIX. 



to obtain from you, in writing, a statement of the facts in relation 
to it, with permission to make use of it in a note. I shall esteem 
it a valuable addition to the authentic matter to be embraced in 
the appendix of each number of that work. 

" Yours, respectfully, 

«T. C. HARTSHORN. 
« Dr. Thomas H. Webb." 

"Providence, Sept. 1, 1837. 

" Dear Sir : My time has been so much occupied, of late, as 
to have rendered it impossible for me, until the present moment, 
to reply to your note of the 25th ult; and even now I am so cir- 
cumstanced as to be unable to do more than write a very brief 
reply. 

" In conversation with Mr. Daniel Greene, of Pawtucket, who, 
as you probably well know, is the most powerful, as he has been 
the most extensive, magnetizer in this country, I inquired if he 
were able to magnetize, and thereby obtain control over, a single 
limb, ivhttst the rest of the body remained in a natural state. He 
said that he had done it, in the case of Miss J., with whom you 
are acquainted, and would attempt it on another patient that we 
were going to see that afternoon, if reminded of it. 

" The individual alluded to had never been magnetized but three 
times, and did not present a very striking exemplification of the 
usual magnetic phenomena. After trying various experiments, 
that consumed several hours, we left the house, having forgotten 
the subject matter of my interrogatory. But, upon recollecting 
it, we returned, and the patient reseated herself upon being re- 
quested so to do, without any reason being given her for making 
the request. 

" Mr. Greene then went through the usual manipulations some 
dozen or twenty times, confining them to the space reaching from 
the top of the left shoulder to the extremities of the fingers on 
the same side. He afterwards requested her to raise the left 
hand to the head. She said she could not. There was evident- 
ly a powerful effort made to do this, as was shown by the 
working of the muscles inserted into the upper portion of the 
shoulder ; but the limb remained powerless and motionless, not 
obeying the dictates of the owner's will. She was asked to raise 
her right arm to the head, which was done promptly, and with 
perfect ease and freedom. Again she was directed to stretch out 
the left hand, but unavailingly. It was completely paralyzed — 
devoid of motion and sensation. I gave it a severe pinch, nip- 
ping with the thumb and finger, as hard as I deemed it prudent 
to, leaving deep impressions with my nails. Upon inquiring if 
it did not hurt her, she, with an incredulous smile, observed that 
I had not done any thing to her. I then, without saying any 



APPENDIX. 229 

thing, pinched, in the same manner, though less severely, the 
other hand, when she drew back from me with a sudden start, 
and complained that I hurt her. The arm, to one lifting it, was 
a perfect dead weight. I poised it on my lingers, and Mr. G. 
restored it ; and there was a very marked difference in it 
and about it, as it passed from the magnetic to the natural 
state. 

" To a person not acquainted with the magnetizer, magnetizee, 
and the gentlemen present,* there will of course appear nothing 
conclusive upon the subject of magnetism, in what is here de- 
tailed ; but to those of us who had previously examined other 
patients, and satisfied ourselves of the existence of a power by 
means of which, to a certain extent, one individual may obtain 
mental mastery over another, the experiment was satisfactory. 

" (Should a suitable opportunity hereafter present, I may furnish 
you with a statement of some singular cases which I have wit- 
nessed. In the mean time, I remain, 

« Yours, &c. THOMAS H. WEBB. 

" Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn." 

Among the persons who have possessed this extraordinary 
power, Gassner deserves especial mention. A brief notice of him 
may be found in the volume of Doctor Foissac, page 446. I 
will translate a portion of it 

" John Joseph Gassner, born at Braz, in the circle of Suabia, 
1727, having been delivered by exorcism from a long-continued 
disease, which had resisted all the resources of the medical art, 
persuaded himself that the greater part of human infirmities 
might be attributed to no other cause than demoniacal posses- 
sion, and that they should be treated with exorcism. He began 
by curing the sick persons of his own parish ; but very soon 
Switzerland, Tyrol, and Suabia, sent him theirs, and he cured 
four or five hundred a year. After having gone over different 
provinces, he established himself at Ratisbon, under the protec- 
tion of the lord bishop, (prince- eveque.) The number of persons 
resorting to him was so considerable, that he often had ten thou- 
sand of them encamped in the neighborhood of Ratisbon. Gass- 
ner regarded faith as an essential condition to be cured. It was 
rare to have the patients delivered from their afflictions at the 
first exorcism. He consecrated to them several hours, and often 
many days. When he wished to act upon a patient, he made 
him place himself on his knees before him; he almost always 
touched the affected part Sometimes he rubbed his hands 
upon his waist or upon his neck, but it was not always the case. 

* Mr. Benjamin Hathaway, of Providence, and Mr. Abner Jones, of 
JNew York, were present. 

20 



230 APPENDIX. 

" Gassner had the power, by his will, to make the pulse 
of his patients vary ; he made it small, great, strong, feeble, 
slow, quick, irregular, intermittent ; and, finally, just as the phy- 
sicians who were present requested of him. He paralyzed their 
limbs ; caused them to weep, to laugh ; and soothed or agitated 
them simply by expressing his order in Latin, or rather, 
mentally. 

"He thus operated the most extraordinary cures. They found 
a small number of persons to contradict the facts. But, strange 
to tell, the celebrated De Haen,* one of the first physicians of 
his age, not conceiving how Gassner had been able to perform 
such cures, concluded that his power was derived from the devil. 
He, however, first argued the question whether they could have 
been done by sympathy, or by magnetism ; but he declared he did 
not know any one sufficiently well versed in occult philosophy to 
perform such wonderful things. 

"About this time, Mesmer published his first observations. 
On his journey to Munich, being consulted by the elector of 
Bavaria, in relation to the cures of the curate of Ratisbon, he 
recognised in his exorcisms the presence of the virtues of ani- 
mal magnetism, the nature and the properties of which it was 
reserved for him to make known." 

Mesmer himself was endowed with the same degree of 
power, which, whether exerted in the form of exorcism or of 
manipulation, would have exhibited effects equally remarkable. 
From the notes reported by Thouret, in his " Recherches et Doutes" 
I shall translate a few instances. 

"Mesmer, being one day with Messrs. Camp*** and d'E*** 
near the great basin of Meudon, proposed that they should pass 
alternately round to the other side of the basin, while he re- 
mained in his place. He made them plunge a cane into the 
water, and plunged his own into it. At this distance, M. Camp*** 
experienced an attack of the asthma, and M. d'E*** a pain in the 
side, to which he was subject Some persons have been seen 
who were not able to sustain the experiment without fainting. 

" One day, Mesmer was walking in the woods of the country 
beyond Orleans. Two girls, taking advantage of the freedom of 
the country, went ahead of the company to chase him. He be- 
gan to run ; but, suddenly turning round, he presented his cane 
towards them, forbidding them to come farther. Immediately 
their knees bent under them, and they could not advance. 

" One evening, Mesmer went into the garden of M. le Prince de 
Soubise, with six persons. He prepared a tree, and, a short time 
after, Mme. la M. de *** and Mesdemoiselles de Pr*** and P*** 
fell senseless. Mme. la D*** de T*** held on to the tree with- 

* De Hagn, under whom Mesmer studied. 



APPENDIX. 231 

out power to leave it M. le C** # de Mons* was obliged to sit 
down on a bank, not being- able to sustain himself on his limbs. 
I do not recollect what effect M. Ang****, a very strong man, 
experienced, but it was terrible. Mesmer then called his servant 
to take away the bodies ; but, I do not know how it was, although 
well accustomed to this sort of scene, even he found himself in 
no condition to act. It was necessary to wait a long time for 
each one to come to himself." 



NOTE IX. — Page 89. 

In the report of the committee appointed by the Royal Acad- 
emy of Medicine at Paris, and read to that learned body in 
1831, may be found the following statement : — 

" You have all heard of a fact which at the time fixed the 
attention of the Chirurgical Section,* and which was commu- 
nicated to it at the session of April 16, 1829, by M. Jules Clo- 
quet. The committee thought it their duty to imbody it in this 
report, as one of the least equivocal proofs of the power of the 
magnetic sleep. It relates to Madame Plantin, aged G4 years, 
living at 151 Rue Saint-Denis, who consulted M. Cloquet, on 
the 8th of April, 1829, about an ulcerated cancer on her right 
breast, which she had had many years, and which was compli- 
cated with a considerable enlargement of the axillary ganglions. 
M. Chapel ain, the physician of this woman, whom he had mag- 
netized for some months, with the intention, as he said, of re- 
ducing the enlargement of the breast, had been able to obtain no 
other result than a very profound sleep, during which her sensi- 
bility appeared to be annihilated, but the ideas preserved all their 
lucidity. He proposed to M. Cloquet that he should operate 
upon it while she was plunged into the magnetic sleep. M. 
Cloquet, considering the operation to be indispensable, consented 
to do it ; and it was agreed that it should take place on the 
following Sunday, April 12. The two evenings previous, this 
woman was magnetized several times by M. Chapelain, who dis- 
posed her, when in somnambulism, to support the operation with- 
out fear, and even led her to speak of it with composure, while, 
as soon as she waked, she repelled the idea with horror. 

" On the day appointed for the operation, M. Cloquet, on his 
arrival at half past ten o'clock in the morning, found the patient 
dressed, and seated in an arm-chair, in the position of a person 
peacefully wrapped in a natural sleep. It was nearly an hour 

* The Academy was, in 1820, divided into three sections — Medicine, 
Surgery, and Pharmacy. — Trans. 



232 APPENDIX. 

since she had returned from mass, which she always attended at 
the same hour. M. Chapelain had put her into the magnetic 
sleep since she came back. The p itient spoke with great 
calmness of the operation she was about to undergo. Every ar- 
rangement having been made for the operation, she undressed 
herself, and sat down upon a chair. 

" M. Chapelain held the right arm, the left arm being suffered 
to hang by her side. M. Pailloux, a student at the Saint-Louis 
Hospital, was charged to hand the instruments and to make the 
ligatures. First an incision was made from the armpit, above the 
tumor, to the inner side of the breast. The second, commencing 
at the same point, separated the tumor below, and passed round 
to meet the first. M. Cloquet dissected the enlarged ganglions 
with caution, on account of their proximity to the axillary 
artery, and took off the tumor. The time consumed in the oper- 
ation was ten or twelve minutes. 

"During all this time, the patient continued to converse tran- 
quilly with the operator, and did not exhibit the slightest sign of 
sensibility ; no movement of the limbs or of the features, no 
change in the perspiration, nor in the voice, no emotion, not even 
in the pulse, were manifested ; the patient did not cea^e to be in 
the state of self-forgetfulness and passive insensibility, in which 
she was several minutes before the operation. They were not 
obliged to hold her ; they merely sustained her. A ligature was 
applied to the lateral thoracic artery, which was exposed during 
the extraction of the ganglions. The wound was closed with 
sticking plaster, and dressed ; the patient was put on the bed, 
still in the state of somnambulism, and left there forty-eight 
hours. An hour after the operation, a slight hemorrhage ensued, 
which did not continue. The first dressing was removed on the 
succeeding Tuesday, April 14. The wound was cleansed and 
dressed anew ; the patient manifested no sensibility nor pain. 
The pulse preserved its natural beat. 

" After the dressing had been put on, M. Chapelain awoke the 
patient, whose somnambulic sleep had lasted ever since one hour 
before the operation, that is to say, for two days. This woman 
did not appear to have any idea or any impression of what had 
passed ; but, on learning that she had been operated upon, and 
seeing her children around her, she experienced a very lively 
emotion, which the magnetizer terminated by putting her asleep 
immediately." 

The following names were appended to this report: — 
Bourdois de la Motte, President ; Fouquier, Guenoau de Mus- 
sy, Guersent, Itard. *T. J. Leroux, Marc, Thillaye, Husson* 



APPENDIX. 233 



NOTE X. 



" Providence, August. 31 1837. 

« Sir : In compliance with your request, expressed in a note, 
dated the 24th inst., I herewith furnish you a statement of the 
case of somnambulism which I have under my charge, to append 
as a note to the work you have in progress. 

"Numerous professional engagements at this time will render 
the statement necessarily very brief and general in its character. 
This brevity, however, is less to be regretted, as you are able to 
obtain statements of many of the particulars from a number of re- 
spectable gentlemen, who have witnessed the case, and who could 
command more time to devote to making particular experiments. 

"Miss L. Brackett, the subject of this case, is a respectable 
and intelligent young lady from Dudley, Mass. Four years 
since, when about sixteen years of age, she had the misfortune 
to have an iron weight, weighing two or three pounds, fall from 
a height upon the top of her head. The injury which she sus- 
tained was so considerable as to deprive her of her reason for a 
number of months, during which time she was subject to the 
most violent spasms, and other serious derangements of her ner- 
vous system. From the immediate effects of this injury she 
gradually recovered, and at the end of the year her general health 
was partially restored. Notwithstanding, however, the improve- 
ment in her general health, an affection of her eyes, which com- 
menced immediately after the reception of the injury, and which 
threatened total blindness, was daily growing worse. The disease 
with which her eyes were affected is called amaurosis ; it is an 
affection of the optic nerves, often of a paralytic character. As is 
usual in cases of amaurosis, the loss of sight was very gradual ; 
and it was not till the end of two and a half years that it was 
entirely destroyed. Simultaneously Avitli the loss of sight, she 
sustained a loss of voice, which was so complete, that for fifteen 
months she was unable to utter a single guttural sound, and 
could only whisper in almost inaudible tones. 

"This was her state, in respect to her eyes and vocal organs, 
when I first saw her, about the middle of May last ; and her gen- 
eral health, though somewhat improved, was still far from being 
good. 

" Considering her case as a hopeless one, arrangements had 
been made by her friends to send her to the Asylum for the 
Blind in Boston, in hopes of her being able, after finishing her 
education, to obtain a livelihood as a teacher in that or some other 
similar institution. When on her way to Boston, she stopped, for 
the purpose of making a visit of a few days, with some friends 
which she had residing in this city. Being in attendance, at the 
time, in the family of one of her friends, I was requested to see her 
20* 



234 APPENDIX. 

and examine her case, rather as a matter of curiosity, than from & 
hope that I should be able to prescribe a remedy for her deplora- 
ble malady. In the course of conversation with her, I found 
that all the usual means in such cases had been perseveringly 
employed by the most skilful physicians, without material benefit. 

"There being-, at this time, a considerable excitement upon 
the subject of animal magnetism, and being myself engaged in 
investigating it with a view to its remedial effects, and having 
become fully convinced of its salutary influence upon some dis- 
eases, especially those of a paralytic character, — it occurred to 
me that it might be beneficially practised in this case, upon the 
supposition that her complaints were dependent upon a paralysis 
of the nerves supplying the affected organs ; and I accordingly, 
as a dernier resort, proposed a trial of it. The following day, 
having consulted her friends and obtained their consent, she 
desired me to make an experiment. The first sitting occupied 
about forty minutes, before she was thrown into a profound mag- 
netic sleep. On this occasion, she manifested many of the usual 
phenomena of that state. She walked about the house, drank her 
tea, &c, with as much ease and confidence as she could have 
done, had she been in the full possession of her sight, and in a 
waking state. 

"From the time of the first experiment to the present date, 
being three and a half months, she has been magnetized daily, 
sometimes twice daily, with the exception of thirteen days at one 
time, and three or four at another. The number of times she has 
been magnetized, therefore, considerably exceeds one hundred. 

" The magnetic phenomena, though very astonishing at first, 
became more and more so from day to day. Whether it were in 
consequence of the magnetic state becoming more and more per- 
fect the more she was magnetized, or whether, by becoming bet- 
ter acquainted with the subject, we learn to elicit those phenomena 
with the better success, it is difficult to determine ; but it is 
probable that it is owing to a combination of both these causes. 

"The somnambulic, or perhaps more properly the magnetic 
phenomena, have been of several different kinds, and each kind 
manifested in several different ways. The first and most obvious 
of these phenomena is what the French term clairvoyance — clear- 
sightedness, mental vision, or vision without the use of the visual 
organs. This wonderful power is manifested, first, in her being- 
able to see any object that is presented to her, when in the mag- 
netic sleep, though totally blind when awake. Experiments have 
been varied and multiplied almost indefinitely, to prove the ex- 
istence of this power, and with entire success, as you have had 
frequent opportunities to witness. Objects, when examined by 
her, are never held in a direction to be seen with the eyes, but 
are laid down upon the top of the back part of the head, from 
which point she has generally seen, though the seat of vision 



APPENDIX. 235 

has varied at different times. She has been able, though with 
more exertion, to see objects that were enclosed in boxes, trunks, 
and watch-cases ; to read letters that were folded, &c. 

" Secondly, this power is manifested in the ability to see ob- 
jects not present — in a distant city, for instance. In the exercise 
of this power, another seems to be necessary — that of locomo- 
tion, as it has been called, or of transporting herself from one 
place to another. This she says she does through the air. 

" Another description of phenomena, which may be called 
those of intelligence, is manifested in the somnambulist's under- 
standing the will of the mignetizer, or of the person with whom 
she may he in communication. To test this power, I have made 
a great number of experiments, which have been almost uniformly 
successful. She can, for instance, be willed to have in her hand 
various kinds of fruits, cakes, wines, animals, birds, &c. ; or any 
other things may be changed from one to another at the will of 
the magnetizer. 

"There is a class of phenomena which seem to partake more 
of a physical character than those above mentioned, as wit- 
nessed in the attraction which takes place between the hand of 
the magnetizer and the magnetized, and also as witnessed in the 
attraction and repulsion in the application of the artificial mag- 
net. I do not wish to be understood to mean that this phenom- 
enon certainly partakes of a physical character, though the sudden, 
powerful, and apparently involuntary action of the muscles seems 
to favor this opinion. On the contrary, it must be admitted that 
the patient, in this case, not only understands the will of the 
magnetizer, but observes all his actions ; and therefore these mo- 
tions may be voluntary and in obedience to his will. Or, in using 
the magnet, a powerful influence may be produced upon the 
imagination, and those effects may be occasioned by the imagi- 
nation acting upon an excitable nervous system. 

" The want of time and opportunity on my own part, and the 
desire to have as many distinguished and scientific persons see 
and investigate this case in their own way, as has been consistent 
with her convenience, have prevented my making experiments 
calculated to establish this point conclusively; neither have I, 
for the same reasons, been able to determine, satisfactorily, 
whether all the senses can be used in reference to things not 
present, as is the case with virion, though from some recent ob- 
servations, I hive myself no doubt of the fact. 

" In speaking of the magnetic phenomena, I mean only to refer 
to those which have been manifested in this particular case. 
Many others, differing materially from these, have been observed 
in other cases, of which it is neither necessary nor proper that I 
should speak at this time. Should I, however, ever find it con- 
venient to communicate to the public a more detailed and better 
digested history of this case, — which is my present intention, — 



236 APPENDIX. 

I shall attempt, after giving the result of my investigations, to 
follow out the classification of the phenomena which I have here 
merely glanced at. By pursuing this mode, perhaps we may 
arrive at some rational theory. At present, however, until a 
greater number of facts have been established, and more clearly 
arranged, to attempt to theorize appears to me to be entirely 
futile. 

" In conclusion, it gives me great pleasure to be enabled to say 
from my own observations, that, however interesting animal mag- 
netism may be when considered in relation to science, however 
interesting as matter of curiosity and wonder, or however inter- 
esting it may be as a means of discovering the condition of our 
absent friends, or the machinations of our enemies, it is still 
more interesting as the means of mitigating the suffering incident 
to human nature. It will be recollected I have stated that, when 
Miss Brackett came to this city, about the middle of May last, 
her general health was far from being good ; she was totally 
blind, and unable to speak excepting in the lowest whisper. Her 
condition is materially different at this time. Her health is good; 
her vision is partially restored ; and she speaks in her natural 
tone of voice. 

" With much respect, 

" Yours, &c. 

" Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn." G - CAPRON. 



Providence, August 30, 1837. 

Mr. Henry Hopkins states that Miss Brackett has lived in 
his family, as an invited guest, four or five weeks, at different 
times. He is satisfied that she was totally blind Avhen she first 
came to live with him. Her voice, when he first became ac- 
quainted with her, was so low and weak that it was difficult to 
hear her speak. 

Her eyes were very much inflamed and painful ; the lids were 
scarcely open ; they were easily affected by the light, so as to be 
painful. She has since improved very much in her eyesight 
Her eyes have assumed a healthy appearance; they are not 
troublesome. She can even lay aside the green shades, which 
she used to wear, without experiencing inconvenience, except in 
a very bright light. She is now able, in the natural state, to dis- 
cern the outlines of objects, such as a book, or a fan, for instance. 

There is also a very great improvement in her appetite, appear- 
ance, and general health. She has been magnetized almost daily 
by Dr. Capron ; and it is to this that this improvement is to be 
attributed. Her natural cheerfulness and elasticity of spirits have 
improved with her health. In the magnetized state, she enjoys a 
walk as much as any one, and often walks in the garden among 
the flowers. If she wishes to examine any flower very closely, sht 



APPENDIX. 



237 



holds it just behind her head, near the top, ivithout taking off her 
bonnet ; in this mariner she holds whatever things she examines. 
To look at any picture hanging- up in a room, in a house where 
she has not been before, she steps into a chair, and brings the 
top of her head towards it. 

Mr. Hopkins permits me to publish the above statement. 

Mr. Jesse Metcalf says he has known Miss B. about two 
months. She has resided in his family, at different times, about 
four weeks. He was not acquainted with her when she first 
came to Providence, and could not understand her very well at 
first, because her voice was very feeble ; she did not speak, ex- 
cept in low whispers. Her health was quite delicate, and her 
appetite poor. Her eyes appeared to be quite inflamed ; it was 
necessary to keep the blinds of the room almost always closed, 
and the lamp where it could not shine so as to pain her eyes. 
While at his house, she has generally been magnetized every 
day. She would sometimes remain in the magnetized state ten 
or twelve hours, during which she would walk about the house as 
well as any other person ; but when she was in her ordinary state, 
she would have to grope about, and feel her way. In the mag- 
netized state, she enjoys vision, looking at objects with great 
pleasure, especially pictures, portraits, &c. This makes her de- 
light in being in that state. She describes such tilings very 
accurately. 

Mr. Metcalf says that her general health and her appetite are 
very much improved. When in the somnambulic state, she walks 
along the streets with perfect ease, and hears any person she is 
directed to, very well. She has been to meeting three times 
with his family in that state, and could remember some parts of 
the discourses, having heard them very well. 

When Dr. Capron leaves her in the magnetic state, he first 
tells her to answer and converse with all his family, or with some 
member of it She cannot then talk with any but these persons; 
nor can she hear any thing addressed to her by any one else. 
She cannot, when in that state, hear the conversation between 
any two individuals. 

She can only see their lips move, and wonders they do not 
talk. She cannot even hear the person Avith whom she converses, 
when he talks with any body else. She hears him only when he 
addresses her. Miss B. is intelligent, has received a good edu- 
cation, and is cheerful and pleasant. When in the magnetized 
state, she can tell imnie liately in ivhat part of the house every mem- 
ber of the family is, without moving or turning from her seat. Mr. 
M. has eleven in the family, including Miss B., Avho is now stay- 
ing with him. 

Miss B. says the walls of the house, as do all other walls, 



233 APPENDIX. 

appear to be transparent. She can see through them, and yet 
she can see them, and describe what kind of paper, or paint, is 
on them. Miss B. is of pleasing manners, and is an invited guest 
in his house, where she has interested all the family. 

Mr. Metcalf permits me to publish this statement, which he 
made at my request. 

Unless she is magnetized, she cannot enjoy the pleasure of 
reading, and this is one cause of her being so fond of remaining 
magnetized. 

While she was residing at the mansion of Stanford Newel, 
Esq., she found there Hannah More's " Private Devotions," a small 
work which has been printed since she became blind. This she 
took with her when she retired one night; and in the morning, 
before she was restored to the natural state, she observed that 
she had been reading most of the night. There was no light in 
the room. One of the ladies of Mr. Newel's family soon discov- 
ered that by giving out the first line of several of the poems, she 
was able to repeat the whole, verbatim. In this manner she had 
learned at least twenty of the pieces. I have seen the book. It 
is the fine-type edition of Messrs. Crocker & Brewster; Boston, 
1836. This exercise doubtless has a tendency to retard the 
progress of her cure ; but the natural activity of her mind makes 
it difficult for her to sit idle. 



NOTE XI. 

The following paper was drawn uo by M. B. L # *' ## * # *, a gen- 
tleman at the head of one of our noblest literary institutions, from 
notes taken at the time of experimenting. One thing adds much 
to its value ; and that is, the early date at which it ivas drawn up. 
This serves also to explain why circumstances are stated so mi- 
nutely, which are now so well known to be attendant on most 
experiments of the kind. There is no danger of carrying such 
minuteness too far in this subject, since those whi are familiar 
with its phenomena, and those who are not, are equally prone to 
form hasty conclusions, without sufficiently considering the great 
variety of phases they present, and the intricacy of principles 
they may involve. To make theories is very easy ; but to observe 
facts requires patience and caution. Hence we hear men, every 
day, in regard to this subject, speak dogmatically, as though they 
had established every thing they utter by a carpful observation 
of the facts as they exist; whereas its acknowledged difficulties 
ought to make us more cautious, and more willing to bestow care 
upon it. This paper was not intended for publication. 



APPENDIX. 239 

' ; Providence, 12th month, 1836. 

" To assist the memory of the writer, and for the gratification 
of a few of his particular friends, the following brief account of 
animal magnetism, as witnessed and practised by himself, has 
been penned. It contains a simple statement of certain phenom- 
ena produced upon one individual by another, principally by the 
agency of the icill, assisted by certain manipulations, known by 
the name of 'passes.' The attention of the writer was first 
called to the subject by perusing notices, published in Boston 
papers, of wonderful effects, caused by Bugard and others, such 
as producing a sleep so profound that a tooth could be, and actu- 
ally was, drawn, without occasioning any painful sensation. Far 
from putting confidence in these statements, but little was thought 
of the subject, till an intimate friend gave him some account of 
a lecture he had attended, (perhaps the evening previous,) on 
animal magnetism, by Charles Poyen. He was unphilosophical 
enough to exclaim, 'I do not believe it!' and to attempt to 
prove its fallacy by its strangeness. This circumstance is men- 
tioned to show that the writer was far from being prejudiced in 
favor of what was then generally believed to be a humbug. 

tt As, however, it became the general topic of conversation, 

and as questions of this sort — 'What do you think, Mr. , 

of animal magnetism ? ' 'Dost thou think, M , there is any 

thing in animal magnetism?' were repeatedly asked, to which, 
of course, he could give no satisfactory answer, he came to the 
conclusion to embrace every opportunity for gaining information, 
which could lend assistance in forming a judgment. Far from 
finding an associate in his immediate circle, he undertook the 
investigation alone. 

" To carry into effect this resolution, Charles Poyen's lectures 
were attended, his experiments at Pawtucket witnessed, and 
finally the Report of the French Commissioners read. (It is 
proper to remark that the experiments at Pawtucket were far 
from being satisfactory. It seemed to be the opinion of the ex- 
perimenter that the object in coming was rather to behold won- 
ders than to investigate. There was apparently, therefore, no 
exertion to remove whatever might lead to suspicion of artifice.) 
But still being unsatisfied, the only way remaining seemed to 
be for the writer to experiment for himself, which he did, as 
follows : — 

"First attempt — Individual, L T , a young man, 

about twenty-three years of age, in good health, except occa- 
sional difficulty of digestion. Time, twenty-five minutes. Ef- 
fects, nothing worthy of note. 

" Second attempt. — Subject, time, and effect, same as last. 

"Third attempt. — Subject, a young lady, about seventeen 
years old, in good health ; said to be nervous. Time and effect, 
same as above. 



240 



APPENDIX. 



"Fourth attempt. — Subject, time, and effect, same as before. 

"Fifth attempt — Subject, a young lady, about eighteen years 
of age, apparently in good health. Time, twenty-five or thirty 
minutes. Effects, drowsiness and great difficulty of keeping the 
eyes open, flow of saliva to the mouth. 

" Sixth attempt. — Subject, G C , a lad fourteen years 

old, subject to attacks of croup. Knew nothing more of anima* 
magnetism than the name. Of good endowments, and an inno- 
cent and affectionate disposition. 

"12 mo. 13th. — Time, effects, &c. — He was called to the 
writer's room about 5 P. M., seated in a rocking-chair, and told 
that he was to be magnetized, and all that he must do was, to sit 
still, and keep his eyes open as long as he could ; to which he 
assented. There was no one in company except his brother. 
The manipulations were the same as those mentioned in the 
French report, under the name of 'passes.' Notwithstanding re- 
peated laughter from the brother, yet scarcely five minutes had 
elapsed, before evident effects were produced — an incessant 
tremor of the hands, and, occasionally, motions of the feet Ten 
minutes, convulsions increased, particularly in the hands and 
arms ; lids partly closed, with constant motion, resembling rapid 
winking. Fifteen minutes, convulsions continued ; lids closed, 
but still in motion. Twenty minutes, little change during the last 
five minutes ; occasionally, sudden convulsive motions of the 
whole body. The magnetizer now despaired of producing sleep, 
supposing the nervous system to be affected by the imagination, 
and mistaking the convulsive motions of the eyelids for voluntary. 
The process ceased. The brother, with a laugh, exclaimed, 
'George!' But no reply was obtained. The magnetizer. — 
' Art thou sleepy, George ? ' ' Yes,' replied G. C. ' How long 
before thou wilt be asleep ? ' ' One minute.' S. A. (a teacher) 
was called in, and requested to ask him a question; which he 
did repeatedly, without getting any answer, till the magnetizer 
mentally directed him to reply, when he answered immediately. 
The company were completely astounded. It appeared to be 
the general wish that he should be waked. His eyes remaining 
closed, he was, however, asked how many there were in the 
room ; to which he replied correctly. A knife was held before 
his forehead, and he was requested to name it. Reply, ' A knife.' 
'How dost thou know?' 'It has iron about it' His brother, 
being requested to wake him, endeavored to by shaking him, 
speaking his name aloud, &c, but in vain. 'Come, George, it is 
time to wake up,' said the magnetizer, taking him by the hand. 
He immediately rubbed his eyes, and arose from his seat The 
trembling of his hands still continued, but ceased in a few min- 
utes. Said he felt well, 

" Second sitting. — Commenced magnetizing about 7 P. M. 
In twelve minutes, profound sleep was produced, accompanied by 



APPENDIX. 245. 

convulsive motions, as before. He went to sleep in presence of 
his class, twenty-five in number. He was asked how many there 
were present ; to which he replied, without hesitation, i Thirteen.' 
{Wrong.) The great ease with which he comprehended the wiit 
of the magnetizer at this sitting, is remarkable. A single mental 
request was sufficient to cause him to take or reject the hand of 
any one present ; and by the same means, communication with 
those around him was readily established and broken off. Sev- 
eral articles, as knives, pencils, &c, were presented to different 
parts of his head, which he named, generally, correctly. At this 
sitting, and most of the following, he manifested great uneasiness 
at the presence of iron. ' What is it, George ? ' (A key being 
held by his forehead.) ' A key,' — at the same time withdrawing 
his head. After repeatedly endeavoring in vain to awake him, 
his schoolmates retired ; when the magnetizer left him for a few 
minutes, to invite the superintendents and teachers to witness 
magnetic sleep. Upon the return of the magnetizer, being asked 
who was present, he repeated the names of several of the teach- 
ers. (Right.) And being asked whether any women were in 
the room, he spoke the names of most of the females present. 
Again he was requested to tell what was held by his head, which 
he did, generally, correctly, and invariably took or rejected the 
hand of any one, at the will of the magnetizer. He would also 
converse, or not, according as he was commanded to, or not, by 
the thoughts of the magnetizer. S. A # ** # * requested him to rise 
and walk with him, which proposal being mentally opposed by the 
magnetizer, he could not be prevailed upon to comply, till the 
magnetizer, in accordance with the wish of S. A., expressed by a 
sign, willed that he should rise ; when he immediately arose. 
Magnetizer offered his arm, which was accepted. Magnetizer 
asked him if he perceived a comb before his face ; to which he 
replied in the affirmative. (A comb.) Being requested to re- 
member the comb after the sleep ended, he promised to do so. 
Finally, all being perfectly satisfied that he was completely sub- 
ject to the will of the magnetizer, and that he alone could awake 
him, ' Come, George,' said the magnetizer, < it is time to get up.' 
He immediately rubbed his eyes and awoke. Being asked if he 
knew what he had done, he replied, ' No,' (hesitatingly.) ' Some- 
thing about a comb.' He thought he should not remember the 
comb, as he did not see it distinctly. Upon presenting two dis- 
similar ones, he immediately selected it. He said he had some 
recollection of a key, and that he knew it to be a key, because 
he ' felt a bunch of attraction, a line of attraction, and a ring of 
attraction? 

" 12 mo. 14th. — Third sitting. — Pulse seventy-nine, sleep in 
nine minutes, lids closed. Magnetizer put the questions, and 

received the answers which follow : < Is I D in the 

room ? ' 'I can't see him.' ' Dost thou feel pleasant ? ' ' Yes.' 
21 



242 APPENDIX. 

* How many are present, George ? ' ' Thirty-eight,' — moving his 
head round as if to count them. (Right.) ' Dost thou count thy- 
self? ' ' No.' ' Dost thou count me ? ' ' No.' « Dost thou count 
Jonathan ? ' ' No.' (There were thirty-eight in the room be- 
sides the three excepted.) ' Dost thou count Samuel ? ' ' Don't 
know.' ' What lesson art thou to recite this morning ? ' ' Spell- 
ing.' (Right.) 'From what book?' 'Philadelphia Expositor.' 
(Right.) ' What smell has this ?' (Ammonia.) ' Acid.' 'What 
is this?' (a shell being presented.) 'Paper.' (Paper being 
near in magnetizer's other hand.') 'What is it, George ? (The 
paper being removed.) ' A shell.' ' Feel any thing ? ' (Being 
pricked under the nail with a pm.) ' Yes.' (At the same time 
manifesting sensation.) ' What is the matter ? ' ' Pricking me.' 
'What with?' 'A pin.' 'Who pricked thee?' ' J ******* 
{§#**#*.» (Right.) 'What is this?' (A file being presented.) 
'Steel.' 'What is this?' (Hare's aerometer.) 'Some copper 
about it.' ' What is this ? ' (Button.) ' Button.' ' How many 
in the room? ' ' About seventy.' (Being eighty.) ' What time 
is it ? ' (Being five minutes after nine.) ' Quarter of nine.' 
' How dost thou tell ? ' 'By watch.' ' Who has it ? ' ' Moses.' 
(The magnetizer.) ' What time dost thou say it is ? ' ' No — a 
little past nine.' ' Wilt thou wake, George, in just three min- 
utes from now ? ' ' Yes.' (He fulfilled his promise to a second.) 

" N. B. Pulse somewhat increased. 

"12 mo. 18th. — Commenced about half past 6, P. M. 
Sound sleep in four minutes. At this time, magnetized readily 
obeyed the will of magnetizer, and generally told correctly what 
was held before him. He manifested much uneasiness at the 
presence of iron, &c, as before. Convulsive motions about the 
same as previous sittings. He told the number of persons correctly, 
some of whom had come in after he was put asleep. He was re- 
quested to wake in two and a half minutes. In two and a quar- 
ter minutes, sleep ended. 

" About five minutes after, he was again put to sleep in two 
minutes, by the will alone of the magnetizer, who sat at the dis- 
tance of four feet. Lids fixed, but not closed. He shut them 
at the wish of the magnetizer, accompanied by a motion of the 
hand downwards. He told the number in the room correctly, 
and answered various questions put to him by others, when per- 
mitted by the magnetizer. Convulsive motions entirely ceased. 
Magnetizer stepped to a. distant part of the room, and mentally 
requested magnetized to come to him. He complied. Finally, 
he was requested to awake in just ten minutes, which he did to 
a second. 

" Lastly, magnetizer retired to an adjoining room, and willed 
him to sleep in one and a half minutes. After a few experi- 
ments, to be fully satisfied that he was asleep, magnetizer waked 
him. 



APPENDIX. 243 

w 12 mo. 19th. — Fifth sitting. — G. C**** was explaining to 
his teacher the method of solving 1 a question in algebra, after 
which he was to solve two others to finish his lesson. He knew 
nothing of the intention to put him asleep. Magnetizer seated 
himself in a room at least seventy feet distant, between whom and 
magnetized there were as many as three stone and brick walls, 
besides several partitions. To take the nearest route from one to 
the other, seven doors are to be passed through, five of which 
were shut. The process of magnetizing continued about two 
and a half minutes, when magnetizer went to ascertain the re- 
sult. He found magnetized explaining his sum, but manifesting 
a fixedness of countenance. After he had gone through the ex- 
planation, which, as his teacher informed, was rather singularly 
accomplished, he commenced upon the questions following. G. 
R* ## , a teacher, spoke to him, but could get no answer. Magnet- 
izer then stepped to an adjoining room, and magnetized about a 
minute longer. On returning, he could perceive no change. 
Magnetized still sat engaged about his lesson. His eyes were 
open, and he was free from convulsive motions. Magnetizer 
said, ' Come, George, wake up.' No reply or sign of waking. 
' When art thou going to wake up ? ' ' When I get my sums done.' 
Magnetized took off his cravat, and laid it aside ; being asked the 
reason, he said, ' It is warm.' Magnetizer, feeling some anxiety 
at his inability to wake him, rendered him some assistance, at the 
same time telling him to finish his lesson as soon as he could, 
and then to wake. Several attempts were made to deceive him, 
that he might get through sooner ; but one only succeeded, at 
which time he was looking in his book for the answer. As soon 
as the questions were solved, he rubbed his eyes and awoke. 
Being questioned, he said he remembered nothing that had oc- 
curred, not having seen the magnetizer before that moment since 
quarter past 3, P. M. We proceeded immediately to the ta- 
ble ; but just as we were leaving the room, he inquired for his 
cravat, not recollecting that he had laid it aside. After tea, mag- 
netizer told him he had interrupted him some during the after- 
noon, and wished to know if he had finished his lesson. He re- 
plied, 'I have two more sums to do ;' entirely forgetting that he 
had solved them during his sleep. 

" Sixth sitting. — Sleep produced in half a minute. A bar 
magnet was brought near, when magnetized manifested great 
uneasiness. Magnetizer said, ' What is it, George ? ' ' Magnet.' 
'Why dost thou not sit still?' 'It hurts.' 'Which pole is to- 
wards thee ? ' ' North pole,' (right,) — at the same time moving his 
head towards it. ' How dost thou know ? ' 'It pulls.' Upon re- 
versing the poles, he instantly started back as if touched by a 
hot iron. ' Which pole is it ?' ' South.' (Right.) 'How dost thou 
know ? ' 'It pushes.' This experiment was several times repeat- 
ed, with the same result In a word, it was impossible to deceive 



244 



APPENDIX. 



him. Whether the ' magnetizer ' or any other person held the 
magnet, he invariably moved his head toward the north, and from 
the south pole, even when it was presented at the distance of eight 
feet. Indeed, he showed, by words and various movements, that he 
was not at all pleased with the experiment. Magnetizer extended 
his hand towards him, to which he moved his head. Being asked 
how it felt, he replied, ' It pulls.' It seemed to be rather agree- 
able to him than otherwise. Magnetizer then withdrew his 
hand, and brought his head near to the forehead of the magnet- 
ized, at which he manifested the same uneasiness as at the south 
pole of the magnet. The novel thought occurred to the magnet- 
izer, that perhaps himself might be magnetized, negatively, by 
induction. He therefore concluded to form the circuit, and know 
the result. It was formed by placing the hand of the magnetizer 
upon the head of the magnetized, and the hand of the magnet- 
ized upon the head of the magnetizer. Just as the connection 
was being made, the magnetized sprang as if he had received an 
electric shock, though nothing was felt by magnetizer. I**** 
jj#####« tried the same, with the same result. Magnetizer — 
1 What is the matter, G eorge ? ' ' Giving me shocks.' The con- 
nection was made by several persons, (perhaps five,) taking hold 
of hands. Still, the shocks were felt. To ascertain whether 
the will of the magnetizer was at all concerned in the production 
of the shocks, he willed that the magnetized should feel cold, 
where the connection was made. But in vain ; the shocks were 
felt as before. Glass proved not to be a non-conductor. On 
being waked, he had no recollection of what had occurred, but 
complained that he felt as if he had been receiving severe elec- 
tric shocks. 

" 12 mo. 25th. — Seventh sitting. — Magnetizer at least one and 
a half miles distant. — Time, 6, P. M. — Perfect sleep in one 
minute. Magnetizer directed him to shut his eyes ; also, to tell 
one present, J. L. S ##### , that he was coming, and then proceed- 
ed to join the company. At the same time, magnetized whis- 
pered something which was not audible. A communication 
being thus established between him and J. L. S*****, the fol- 
lowing questions were put and answers received : — 

" ' Where is the magnetizer ? ' ' Coming.' ' Where was he 
when he put thee to sleep ? ' 'In a house, and sitting.' (Right) 
It may be proper here to remark, that G. C #### was informed that 
he was to be magnetized some time during the evening, but not 
at what hour. Neither did he know whether the magnetizer was 
at the institution at the time or not. ' How dost thou know ? ' 
4 1 saw him.' 'Has he an umbrella?' 'Yes.' 'How dost thou 
know ? ' 'I feel he has his hand on it.' ' Canst thou see the 
streets, or the lamps in the streets ? ' ' No.' ' Canst thou see 
the bridge?' 'No; it is dark.' 'In what direction is he?" 
(Magnetized placed his hand upon his forehead, and then moved 



APPENDIX. 245 

it towards the place at which he said the magnetizer was.) ' How 
dost thou know he is in that direction ? ' ' 1 feel him pull.' (At 
the same time manifesting uneasiness at what he called the pull- 
ing of the magnetizer. The last two questions were often re- 
peated, and the same answers as often received.) < Shall I stop 
the pulling ? ' ' Thou canst not stop it ; no one can stop it' ' Is 
he walking, or running ? ' ' Running, now.' (Magnetizer does not 
now recollect whether he ran any or not.) ' How many are there 
in the room, and who are they?' 'Four. J. L. S # *** # , J. 
q##*# ? j$ g*****^ an( j m y S elf.' (Two entered while he was 
asleep.) 

" Magnetized was shocked, as at the last sitting. When mag- 
netizer had approached about one mile, he wished him to speak 
to J. L. S # * ### and C. W. J****** ? supposing them both to be 
present. About the same time, he took J. L. S* #### by the 
hand, and with the other seemed to feel for some one. Being 
asked by J. L. S ## ** # what he wished, he replied, < C* #### * 
W. J******.' At the same time, magnetizer wished him to 
speak to none but the two individuals just mentioned, when he 
ceased to answer the questions of J. C ****, his brother, with 
whom he had been conversing, without any directions from the 
magnetizer. During the early part of his sleeping, he made 
various gestures, supposed to indicate a wish to hurry the mag- 
netizer, saying at the same time, ' Faster ! faster ! ' 

"At thirty-five minutes past 6 o'clock, magnetizer arrived, 
and found magnetized asleep, in company with J. C # *** and J. 
L. S** ## *. Of his own accord, on the entrance of the magnet- 
izer, he put out his hand, smiled, and seemed glad to see his 
friend. After a few moments in conversation, the sleep of the 
magnetized was terminated by the will of the magnetizer." 



note xn. 

To Messrs. A. V. and C. C. Potter, to whom I am indebted for 
many opportunities of seeing and trying interesting experiments, 
I take this occasion to express my thanks. The former gentle- 
man, in addition to all other obligations, has furnished me the 
following account of his experience as a magnetizer. It is very 
observable, to one who has had a chance to become acquainted 
with the statements of foreign writers, that there is a striking 
similarity of conclusion between them and our own magnetizers, 
in cases where it was almost impossible for the latter to obtain 
the notions of the former. This is certainly a priori proof of the 
strongest kind in favor of the reality of magnetism, and of the 
universality of its principles ; and it should be an inducement, to 
euch as have leisure, to investigate the subject, until those prin- 
21* 



%4& APPENDIX. 

ciples are as clearly demonstrable as those of electricity. I 
would remark that Mr. P. differs from some others in regard to 
the intuitive knowledge of time, which is claimed as one of the 
faculties of somnambulists. He has even now a patient who 
wakes every morning precisely at the hour he tells her to the 
evening previous, — a fact which I learned from Captain James 
Brattelle, in whose family she now resides. This young lady, 
whose case is a very peculiar one, cannot see while in the mag- 
netic state. Her waking up at the hour indicated by her mag- 
netizer is a strong objection to his own conclusion, which is y 
that somnambulists borrow their notions of time from the thoughts 
of others, or see it on the nearest watch or other timepiece. This 
ease, however, has occurred since the article below was written. 

" The first good subject I ever obtained, was a married lady, of 
about twenty-three. At the fifth sitting, of about forty minutes 
each, she became sound asleep. 1 asked her, after a few ques- 
tions in regard to her feelings, whether she could see any thing 
out of the room where she was sitting. She replied that she 
could. I asked her the time, by the clock in the other room. 
She said, twenty-tivo minutes past eight ; upon looking, I found 
it to be correct to a minute. I knew that she had never been in 
my shop, where men only had been employed. I asked her how 
it appeared. She gave a correct account of its appearance. I 
then asked her if there was any one in at the time. She said 
there were three. I supposed that there was no one there ; it 
being evening, and at a time when it was generally closed. I 
went directly thither, and, to my astonishment, I found three of 
my apprentices at work. On my return, I took an out of the 
way road, and sat down upon a drag for a few moments, to see if 
she would observe it. When I returned, she told me exactly 
where I had been, what way I returned, and observed that the 
short time I sat upon that drag could not have rested me, 

" I asked her to tell the number of persons in the room directly 
over where we sat, it being occupied by another family. She 
answered, * There are seven ; Mr. Day, his wife, and two children, 
a small girl who lives with them, and two ladies that I do not 
recollect to have seen before.' I sent up the maid directly to as- 
certain the fact. While she was gone, I asked the patient what 
she said, and to whom she spoke. She replied, that she spoke to 
Mr. Day, and asked him what time in the evening it was ; and no 
one but him made reply. 

k The girl asked the time of night, as a pretext to ascertain the 
number in the room. She stated the number precisely the same 
as my subject. There were two ladies there whom she did not 
know. The maid was not in the room when my subject told the 
number in the chamber, nor did she know the reason of my sefcd- 
iag her on such an errand* 



APPENDIX. 247 

" I took a number of small things from the shelf, and enclosed 
them perfectly tight in my hand, and she told what they were. 
I took my watch and covered it as closely as possible in my 
handkerchief; she mentioned the time to a minute. I took a 
piece of blank paper, and marked one or two capital letters with 
a lead pencil, and placed them between the leaves in the middle 
of a book. She had no difficulty in telling what they were. 
She would frequently tell the time of day by a dozen watches 
that were in the room, without their being taken from the fob. 

" I have the most indisputable proof of their seeing to a great 
distance, although they frequently fail in experiments of this 
kind. I find a great difference in the veracity of subjects, owing 
partly, I think, to their vanity and desire to answer every thing 
that is asked them, and partly to their inability at times to dis- 
tinguish small objects. They sometimes appear to draw largely 
from their imaginations and preconceived opinions. They are 
apt to get into this habit after being magnetized a great number 
of times. I consider the information obtained from new subjects 
to be much the most correct. 

"Two gentlemen came to see one of my subjects one evening ; 
they had passed Newport that afternoon, and had observed some 
things to test her clairvoyance. They sent her into a room of a 
house there, to which she and myself were total strangers, where 
she found an old gentleman asleep in his chair. They said it 
could not be otherwise than correct, as it was a fixed habit for 
the occupant of the house to sleep at that time in the evening, 
in his chair. 

" She gave a minute description of every house and room which 
they directed her to. On asking her the time of night by the 
clock at Newport, she said that the clock did not go, and both 
hands hung directly down. The gentlemen were astonished at 
its correctness, as they saw them taking down the clock when 
they passed through in the afternoon, and remarked that it would 
be a perfect test of her clairvoyance. Newport is thirty miles 
distant, and a place where my subject had never been. I do not 
mention this as an insulated fact, but as one that will not admit 
of contradiction, not only from the nature of the proof, but the 
character of the witnesses ; they being the Honorable Judge 
Durfee and Judge Staples, both of our Supreme Court, and 
Horace Manchester, Esq., attorney, of this city. 

" I have had gentlemen from Boston, Salem, Newport, Taunton, 
New Bedford, New York, and other places, who have witnessed 
experiments of seeing to a great distance ; and in such cases I 
have directed my subject to go (as we term it) to their respective 
places of abode, and have generally enforced the most perfect 
conviction. 

"I sent a subject to New York that was never in the city. She 
gave a most correct description of Trinity Church, the monuments 



248 APPENDIX. 

in the enclosure, their situation, and the whole of its internal 
structure. I then sent her into a broker's office in Wall Street, 
(Mr. Vernon's.) He informs me that the description is correct 
She said she saw nothing except a few books and some money. 
She could not see any goods, although I called it a store. Mr. 
Vernon was an entire stranger to myself, as well as to the som- 
nambulist. 

" A good clairvoyant will never fail to tell the denomination of a 
bill, the superscription on a letter, or any sentence distinctly 
written, even if it is folded so as to bring the writing on the in- 
side. I have lately been trying some very interesting experi- 
ments, in connection with two or three gentlemen, upon the 
faculty of clairvoyance, which I should not feel justified in laying 
before the public in their present unfinished state. 

" I have found that all my clairvoyants can tell the time ; but 
upon asking them how they tell, they will say they see some 
neighboring clock ; such as that in their own house, or the near- 
est church. I said to a patient of mine one evening, ' Can you 
tell what time it is ? ' She said, f No ; our clock does not go." 1 
Upon looking, I found the clock had been stopped fifteen minutes 
— two hours after she had been put into the magnetic sleep. I have 
told them to wake by a prescribed time, and have found them 
very accurate. At other times, they would wake before half the 
period had elapsed. 

" There are some subjects, however, that are very exact in their 
time of waking, very rarely varying more than six seconds from 
the prescribed time. I have told others to wake in four minutes, 
and in four minutes more to go to sleep again ; they would wake 
in three minutes, or less, and go to sleep again in the same time. 
I have told others to wake in four minutes by a certain clock, or 
watch, and go to sleep in the same time ; they would wake at the 
exact time, and go to sleep one minute, or one minute and a half, 
too soon. So that I am convinced, not only from the artificial 
divisions of time, but from a great number of experiments, that 
they either see some timepiece, or guess at its duration." 



NOTE XIII. 



S OMNAMB UL1SM, 



No one who reads medical works is ignorant of the frequent 
occurrence of natural somnambulism. A hundred cases could 
undoubtedly be quoted from the best authorities. A remarkable 
and well-authenticated one recently appeared in the "Boston 
Medical and Surgical Journal." I do not know whether to class 



APPENDIX. 249 

the following relation, which I find in a very old translation of 
Pliny's " Natural History," with facts or with fictions. Does not its 
resemblance to what is known to take place in induced somnam- 
bulism, authorize us to consider it as having some foundation in 
truth ? 

" We read in Chronicles, that the ghost of Hermotimus Clazo- 
menius was accustomed to abandon his body for a time, and, wan- 
dering up and down in far countries, used to bring home news, 
from remote places, of such things as could not possibly be 
known, unless it had been present there ; and all the while his 
body lay, as it were, half dead in a trance. This practice it 
continued so long, that at last the Cantharidae, who were his 
mortal enemies, took his body and burnt it to ashes ; and by that 
means disappointed his poor soul, when it came back again, of 
that sheath, as it were, or case, where she meant to bestow her- 
self." — Pliny, b. 7, ch. 52. 

There is some similarity between the above relation and the 
following, which is extracted from Watson's " Annals of Phila- 
delphia," page 235, edition of 1830 : — 

" The good people of Caledonia have so long and exclusively 
engrossed the faculty of second sight, that it may justly surprise 
many to learn that we also have been favored with at least one 
case as well attested as their own. I refer to the instance of 
Eli Yarnall, of Frankford. Whatever were his first peculiarities, 
he in time lost them. He fell into intemperate habits, became 
a wanderer, and died in Virginia, a young man. He was born in 
Bucks county, and, with his family, emigrated to the neighbor- 
hood of Pittsburg. There, when a child seven years old, he sud- 
denly burst into a fit of laughter in the house, saying he saw his 
father (then at a distance) running down the mountain side, 
trying to catch a jug of whisky which he had let fall. He saw 
him overtake it. When the father came home, he confirmed the 
whole story, to the great surprise of all.- The boy, after this, ex- 
cited much wonder and talk in the neighborhood. Two or three 
years after this, the family was visited by Robert Verree, a pub- 
he Friend, with other visiting Friends from Bucks county. I 
have heard, in a very direct manner, from those who heard Ver- 
ree's narrative, that he, to try the lad, asked him various questions 
about circumstances then occurring at his own house, in Bucks 
county ; all of which he ascertained to have been really so at 
that precise time. Some of the things mentioned were these, 
viz.: ' I see your house is made partly of logs and partly of stone ; 
before the house is a pond, which is now let out ; in the porch 
sits a woman, and a man with gray hairs ; in the house are sev- 
eral men,' &c. 

" When Verree returned home, he ascertained that bis mill- 



250 APPENDIX. 

pond before his house had been just let out, to catch muskrats ; 
that the man in the porch was his wife's brother, Jonathan ; that 
the men in his house were the mowers, who had all come in 
because of a shower of rain. In short, he said every iota was 
exactly realized. 

" The habit of the boy, when he sought for such facts, was, to 
sit down, and hold his head downwards, his eyes often shut ; and 
after some waiting, declared what he saw in his visions. He has 
been found abroad in the fields, sitting on a stump and crying ; 
on being asked the reason, he said he saw great destruction of 
human life by men in mutual combat. His descriptions answered 
exactly to sea fights and army battles, although he had never 
seen the sea, nor ships, nor cannon ; all of which he fully de- 
scribed as an actual looker-on. Some of the Friends, who saw 
him, became anxious for his future welfare, and, deeming him 
possessed of a peculiar gift and a good spirit, desired to have 
the bringing of him up. He was therefore committed to the 
mastery of Nathan Harper, engaged in the business of tanning, 
m Frankford. There he excited considerable conversation ; and 
so many came to visit him as to be troublesome to his master, 
who did what he could to discourage the calls. Questions, on 
his part, were therefore shunned as much as he could. He lost 
his faculty by degrees, and fell into loose company, which of 
itself prevented serious people from having any further wish to 
interrogate him. 

" To instance the kind of inquiries which were usually pre- 
sented to him, it may be stated that wives, who had missed their 
husbands long, supposed by shipwreck, for instance, would go 
to him and inquire. He would tell them, it is said, of some still 
alive, what they were about, &,e. Another case was, a man, for 
banter, went to him to inquire who stole his pocket-book ; and 
he was answered, no one ; but you stole one out of a man's 
pocket when at the vendue ; — and it was so. 

" His mother would not allow him ' to divine for money,' lest 
he should thereby lose the gift, which she deemed heaven- 
derived. 

"These are strange things. I give these facts as I heard 
them." 

The above were cases of natural somnambulism ; and it is to 
be observed, that such subjects are frequently in condition to 
talk with any who address them. This was the case with the 
Springfield somnambulist, who was recently thrown into induced 
somnambulism by a gentleman of this town, as will be seen by 
his letter, published in this Appendix.* It is laid down by some 

* The same has been done in the case of the Uxbridge somnambulist. 
She was found, as I am told by Dr. Parsons, to be exceedingly susceptible 
to the action of magnetism. 



APPENDIX. 251 

writers on magnetism, that the diseases which produce the one 
may be cured by the other. Where somnambulism is induced 
by the magnetic process, the magnetizer gains such a mastery 
over the patient, as to turn his clairvoyance to a useful purpose ; 
which is, to look into the nature of the disease which made him 
naturally subject to this crisis, and to point out its proper rem- 
edy. Not only so, but magnetism alone, without other aid, re- 
stores such persons to health, and then generally ceases to act 



In one of the numbers of " The Magnetizer," a series of pa- 
pers published by the translator in the " Providence Journal," the 
following description of a magnetic sitting may be found. It is 
designed to convey to the imagination of the reader who has 
never seen any thing of the kind, a correct conception of the 
real power exerted, and of the feelings excited by its contem- 
plation. 

" / confess that 1 am sometimes astonished at my oivn indifference 
to the singula)' phenomena exhibited by my friend, while he is in the 
magnetic sleep. He is this evening sitting beside me in his arm- 
chair, while 1 am at the desk penning these observations. He has 
been asleep about an hour. No one is present but myself. He is 
immovable — in his deep and placid serenity. His breath is scarce- 
ly heard ; the pattering of the rain-drops against the casement 
comes with thrilling distinctness of sound to break the stillness of 
the room ; and, now and then, the lightning, which leaps from the 
riven cloud, sends foiih its rolling thunder in the distance. But 
these cannot arouse him from his slumber. There is on his coun 
ienance that godlike tranquillity which the ancient artists strove to 
express in the representations of their fabled deities. His eyes art 
closed ; he feels not mortal touch ; the surgeon might sever his sev- 
eral joints, and the exquisite nerves of feeling shall not convey the 
intimation to the brain. There is no restless movement, no nervous 
irritation, as in ordinary repose. 

" In vain has Carlos, who has just entered, called him by his 
name. He answers not. How shall he hear the voice of friendship 
who hears not the voice of thunder ? His ears are sealed as with 
seven seals. The mysterious will hath closed the avenues of intel- 
ligence in the mortal body. But from this dreary death of sensa- 
tion, how quickly is he roused ! By a simple volition I cause him 
to see, to hear, to recognise, every thing about him. I can send him 
forth instantly, through the thick darkness of night, into distant 
lands, and cause him to bring us tidings of our absent fiends. His 
spirit seems to delight in this activity ; his intellectual countenance 
brightens up with various emotions. He glides along the surface 
of the earth and ocean, as rapid as the lambent borealis ; and ever 
and anon, as different scenes arrest his attention, he bursts out into 



252 APPENDIX. 

involuntary exclamations of pleasure or surprise, of joy or sorrow. 
The smile that tells of some ludici-ous sight is occasionally seen to 
play over his features. Anon, the hot tears course down his cheeh 
Powerful feeling is in every lineament. He is weeping over a 
death-bed scene which he accidentally witnesses in a distant city ; 
and he cries aloud, ivith the generous fervor of excited sympathy, 
1 He is gone ! poor man ! She has no protection for her orphan 
children — but God!' 

" Instantly, by a power ivhich is more mysterious to myself than 
I think it seems to others, I replunge him into the profoundest sleep ; 
I sprinkle the waters of Lethe over his spirit. His muscles lose 
their tension ; his limbs, their elasticity ; his senses forget their 
office ; the placid serenity of slumber settles upon his features, and 
he becomes as void of sensation, of motion, of volition, as the beau- 
tiful creations of Canova, or the stony victims of Medusa. 11 

It is sometimes necessary to send a somnambulist to examine 
the sick. This has been practised to some extent here ; and it 
will be practised much when magnetism becomes more exten- 
sively appreciated in this country. Great caution should be used, 
in such cases, to test the clairvoyance ; and it seems proper to 
give some hints to those who seek direct evidence of this power 
from somnambulists. 1st If you send them away, give them 
time enough to look round after you have assured yourself that 
there is no mistake in the house to which you send them. 
2d. If you are in communication, keep yourself perfectly free from 
excitement, and attend to what the somnambulist says. 3d. Ob- 
serve simplicity of conduct ; not wearying the somnambulist by 
asking questions which manifest skepticism, or an intention to 
embarrass him. 4th. Be careful, as far as possible, not to ask 
unimportant questions ; for the somnambulist, if properly trained, 
does not view your interrogatories as intended to test his clair- 
voyance, but to obtain information of things as they are. Apollo 
himself, in the palmy tranquillity of his soul, took it in high dud- 
geon, says Plutarch, to be interrogated about so many trifles. 
Besides, most somnambulists imagine you to be present with 
them wherever they go, and think you can see as well as they 
can. It therefore requires caution and skill, not only to obtain 
information from them, but also to direct their attention to the 
proper objects. 

The Marquis de Puysegur says, in his work entitled "J?e- 
cherches Physiologiques sur VHomme," page 423, " There are 
somnambulists whose active energy makes them almost sponta- 
neously perceive all that can be useful and salutary to them- 
selves. There are also some who are inert and indolent, whose 
intuitive faculties are not manifested unless their developement 
is aided. A somnambulist may be compared to a person having 
very good eyes, who is unexpectedly placed upon an eminence 



APPENDIX. 253 

rising from a vast plain. His vision would sweep over a great 
extent, without distinguishing any thing. He would wonder at 
all things, without remarking any ; and the most beautiful situa- 
tions, the most interesting objects, would often be the very ones 
to which he would pay no attention. It is exactly so with many 
somnambulists. If you do not arrest and fix their attention upon 
that which ought particularly to interest them, they will often 
observe nothing in the vast and indefinite domain of their per- 
ception." 



NOTE XIV. 
TRAVELLING SOMNAMBULISTS. 

The somnambulist always appears to have a perfect knowledge 
of what the magnetizer is doing. If he occasionally loses trace 
of him, it is because some other person is in communication, and 
absorbs his whole attention. But the magnetizer generally keeps 
his control over his patient, even though at a distance from him ; 
that is, he can cause him to sink into a state of insensibility ; he 
can make him answer the question of one person, and return no 
answer to the question of another ; can make him lose the power 
of seeing any one present ; can make him call for any particular 
article of food ; can wake him suddenly, &c, — all by the mere 
power of the will. It sometimes happens that such experiments 
fail ; but it is evident that the patient commonly has the faculty 
of divining the will of his magnetizer. He seems to be drawn 
towards him by an intense impulse. He can almost always tell 
where he is. I have known one somnambulist, who, when left, 
by the physician that magnetized her, would voluntarily trace 
him through all his professional calls, and give a pretty correct 
account of them to the persons left in communication with her. 
At the same time, she would mention how many and what de- 
scription of persons were in the several rooms of his patients. 

I could never discover an architectural anomaly in the descrip- 
tions given by somnambulists of the houses to which they are 
sent. It is not proper, however, to conclude that they never 
commit such an error, though I have made many experiments of 
the kind. I will explain my meaning. 

Somnambulists frequently get into the wrong house, and fre- 
quently give a wrong description when they get into the right 
house ; and it requires some tact to draw from them a correction 
of the errors into which they fall at the first sight, as well as to 
discover the cause of their being led into the commission of such 
errors. 

But when they get into a house, or imagine they have got into 
one, — which neither they nor any present have ever been into, — 
22 



254 APPENDIX. 

they will give such a description as will be congruent in itself, 
whether it be true or false, in respect to the house supposed to 
be visited. Thus, if the somnambulist describes the fireplace in 
the parlor as being on the north side, and a door as being on the 
right of the fireplace leading into the room back of the parlor, 
he will, when carried into that back room, make the fireplace 
there correspond with the position of the chimney previously in- 
dicated in the description of the first room. As soon as I took 
notice of this congruency, I varied the experiments very much, to 
ascertain whether it is always so. After examining one room 
in a house, in relation to the position of the windows and the 
grates, I proceeded to the second or third story in one of the 
back rooms, to get a description of it ; then down into the 
yard, to get a description of the back part of the house ; then into 
the front yard, to look into the parlor window, and describe the 
situation of things from this new point of view ; then to one side 
of the house, to look in at a window into a room in which we 
had not yet been ; then into a room in the second story, directly 
over the room back of the parlor, and the fireplace was found to 
be on the south side, exactly corresponding with the rest of the 
description. This experiment has been tried by me when I was 
not in communication with the somnambulists, but conducted it 
through a person who was in communication with them, in re- 
spect to buildings which neither of us had ever seen. 

But, it may be said, the somnambulist, having a good idea of the 
manner in which houses are generally built, could not fail in a 
matter of that kind ; and if he merely imagines himself to be in a 
distant house, he would not be so obscure in his imaginary per- 
ceptions as to make such an architectural error ; for the imagina- 
tion must grasp the whole object at once in all its complexity. 
Besides, there is also reason to believe that ' the somnambulist 
borrows the whole description from the model in the mind of the 
person in communication with him. 

To all this it may be replied, that innumerable examples are 
given, some in this book, of the power not only of transition, 
but also of transition and clairvoyance united, which were prop- 
erly verified. And, in the next place, these trials were, some of 
them, made when the person in communication had no particular 
knowledge of architecture, and no intimation of the design of 
the experiment. Hence we must adopt the obvious explanation. 

If you wish to carry a somnambulist to your own house, or to 
the house of a friend, it is not necessary for you to trace out the 
path for him to travel ; at least I have found it so in all the trials 
I have made, and they are many. Just take the hand of the 
somnambulist, observing first to request to be put in communica- 
tion with him. You must remember, by the way, that it requires 
much circumspection on your part in making the proper advances, 
especially if the somnambulist be a woman, and you a stranger. 



APPENDIX. 255 

After being put in communication, take his hand, and ask him 
if he will go with you to your house ; (you need not tell him 
where or in what direction it is ; ) and if he says he does not 
know the way, tell him you will go with him. If he consents to 
go with you, carry your mind home, and he will soon be there 
with you. Bid him let you know when he arrives. He will 
enter the house, and will surprise you by the correct description 
which he will give you of it. At the same time, if you have or- 
dered some one of your family to make an arrangement of the 
furniture in a particular room, without letting you know what the 
arrangement is, you will probably discover that he does not de- 
rive his ideas from your own mind. You may, however, influence 
his mind, and mislead him. He will sometimes make wonderful 
mistakes in some things, while he is wonderfully correct in others. 
He who is acquainted with the mode of proceeding, will frequent- 
ly, by attending closely to their motions, discover the cause of 
their mistakes. 

T have known several cases analogous to this. You send a 
somnambulist to examine the house of a friend. He describes 
the house correctly, and your friend correctly. He says, your 
friend is sitting at his desk in his study. You go off satisfied 
that all is right ; but on writing an account, and receiving an 
answer from your friend, you are astonished to learn that he was 
not at home on the day in question. How did Somnambulus 
contrive to give such a description of him, if he did not see him ? 
The following letters present instances of the kind to which 1 
refer. 

FROM DOCTOR HARTSHORN. 

" Providence 7 September 1, 1837. 

" Dear Sir : In compliance with your request, I cheerfully 
submit to you an account of an experiment in animal magnetism, 
made a few evenings since by Mr. William Grant, at his father's 
residence, in High Street. The person magnetized was a young 
lady, a relative of the family. Similar experiments had often 
been made by him, and it was by particular request that he con- 
sented to gratify the curiosity of a few individuals on this occa- 
sion. There were present, Bishop Brownell, of Connecticut, Dr. 
Brownell, of this city, Major Lomax, of the U. S. Army, Mr. E. 
Dyer, Jr., Mr. Potter, and myself. Mr. Grant placed himself in 
front of his patient, and, fixing his eyes steadily upon her, she 
soon gave evidence of being in the magnetic sleep. As it 
seemed to us among the most interesting and extraordinary facts, 
in connection with this subject, that the person magnetized could 
visit mentally, and describe, distant places and objects, we con- 
cluded to test her powers in that way. The magnetizer was accord- 
ingly requested to direct her to Newport She soon signified her 



256 APPENDIX. 

arrival, and was directed from the landing, through the town, to 
the residence of Major Lomax. Passing through the front door 
into the entry, and then into one of the side rooms, she gave such 
a description of the interior, the furniture, and family, as to satisfy 
all present that she was not exercising the Yankee prerogative 
of guessing. Major Lomax had previously intimated to me that, 
if she would hit upon and describe a particular article of furni- 
ture in his house, it would serve, as forcibly as any thing could, 
to remove his doubts, inasmuch as the article in question was 
rare, probably what she had never seen. She was now directed 
to return to the entry, and enter the room on the opposite side. 
As soon as she had entered the room, she declared it to be a 
parlor ; and immediately her attention was arrested by an object 
which she said was a musical instrument. She was told to play 
upon it ; but she said she could not, because it was covered. 
She was asked what the covering was, and answered it was 
green baize. She now went through the motions of untying the 
covering, lifting it from the instrument, and laying it aside. She 
was now told by Mr. Grant, who did not know what the instru- 
ment was, and who alone was in communication with her, to 
strike the keys ; but she declared there were no keys. She now 
drew her hand rapidly across, as if to vibrate the strings of an 
instrument, at the same time turning her ear, and listening with 
apparent surprise and pleasure. She next took hold with her 
thumb and finger, and motioned as if to spring the chords. She 
was asked what the instrument was, and answered that she could 
not tell ; that she had never seen any thing like it before. To 
the question if it were a guitar, she answered that it was not : 
that she had seen a guitar ; that this was not like one ; that it 
had many more strings, and was much larger. This description 
Major Lomax assured the company corresponded with the fact. 
There was in the parlor a harp of large size, and it had a cover- 
ing of green baize cloth. Upon subsequent inquiry, it was ascer- 
tained that the harp had been on that evening removed from the 
front parlor to the one immediately in the rear, communicating 
with the first, however, by means of a door.* The gentlemen 
were assured that the young lady had never been in Newport, 
and she was also a stranger to them. 

"It should be remarked, in conclusion, that this statement has 
been submitted to Major Lomax, and has his concurrence. 
" Yours, very respectfully, 

"ISAAC HARTSHORN. 
« Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 

* It is asserted by all clairvoyants, that walls always seem to be trans- 
parent. When told to pass from one room to another through the parti- 
tion or a fastened door, they appear to find no difficulty in doing it;-«- 

2 Vans.. 



APPENDIX. 257 

FROM REV. FREDERICK A. FARLEY. 

" Tuesday Morning, October 3. 

"My dear Sir: In reply to your note of yesterday, I am 
happy to give you any statement of facts in my power ; nor can I 
have the least objection to the use of my name in connection 
therewith, since I mean that it shall be a statement of facts, and 
neither more nor less. 

" Somewhere about two months since, I asked Miss Brackett, 
(the blind lady,) in an interview at my own house, she being in 
the state of magnetic somnambulism, to go with me to Boston. 1 
guided her to the house of a brother-in-law, and she described 
with remarkable accuracy much of the arrangement of the house, 
the furniture of the drawing-rooms, &c. As I understand you, in 
your present inquiries, to seek illustrations ' of the uncertainty 
which attends the relations of somnambulists when they are at a 
distance in spirit, and of the singular errors and illusions to which 
they are liable,' I confine myself to this point. Miss B. said 
there was a gentleman in the front parlor, standing near the win- 
dow, reading a letter ; and upon requesting her to describe him, 
she described the occupant of the house as accurately as I should 
have done to any inquirer. She said, indeed, that his hair was 
'very thin,' when I should have said he was 'bald on the top 
of the head ;' and that he wore spectacles which had ' not silver 
bows,' when I should have said they had ' gold ' bows. Upon 
seeking to know how far these statements corresponded with the 
facts, it was found that the occupant of the house was not at 
home at that hour, (half past 6 o'clock, P. M.,) not having been 
at home between half past 3 o'clock and 8 o'clock. 

"Again, she said that a man was spreading a cloth on the 
floor in the back parlor ; and a little black boy came in, and they 
talked together. It was, indeed, about the hour when the male 
domestic of the family might have been preparing for the even- 
ing meal ; but it was found that nobody interrupted him. 

" Upon leaving the house, she crossed the street to inspect the 
church on Church Green. While apparently engaged in exam- 
ining its exterior, she of a sudden drew herself up with an air of 
great dignity, saying, 'I'll thank you to mind your own busi- 
ness,' or words to that effect. ' What now ? ' I asked. She 
replied, 'That boy is troubling me!' I, as if I saw him, com- 
manded him to desist. ' There, he is laughing at you,' said she. 
' Well, then I'll kick him,' I rejoined, accompanying the words 
with a suitable movement of the foot. ' Ah, you've made him 
cry, now,' she replied. 

" After this, upon returning through the streets, she complained 
constantly of being jostled by the crowd ; although, as I after- 
wards learned, there was nothing to cause any unusual crowd at 
that time. 

22* 



258 



APPENDIX. 



" In this interview, Miss B. exhibited the faculty of clairvoy- 
ance, in my house, with perfect accuracy. I do not remember a 
single error in regard to the things around her in several distinct 
rooms. And, as I before hinted, the external appearance of the 
house at Boston, its entry or hall, both drawing-rooms, the china 
closet, and many articles of furniture, both what thev were, and 
where placed, she also described as well. 
" Very truly yours, 

"FREDERICK A. FARLEY." 

FROM DOCTOR JOHN FUNT. 

" Boston, October 1, 1837. 

" Dear Sir : I have been so much engaged since my return 
from Providence, that I have not until now found leisure to com- 
ply with your request ; and even now I fear I shall be able to 
give you but a very succinct account of the state of things on my 
return to Boston. In your note of the 28th September, you wish 
to know if Miss Brackett was correct in relation to the fire in 
Pearl Street. You will perhaps recollect that she did not say 
there was a fire ; but after having visited my house, on going 
into the street, she made this remark : ' What is the cause of so 
many people's running ? ' and then observed, ' There is a lamp 
raised upon a pole.' And, on requesting her to follow them, she 
soon said she was in Pearl Street, but that the people were re- 
turning. There was no alarm of fire on that evening ; neither 
could I ascertain that there was any disturbance in the streets 
for several days. Finally, however, a friend, Mr. E., was passing 
the evening at my house, and in conversation incidentally re- 
marked that there was a disturbance at a neighboring house a 
few evenings before, and that the watchman sprung his rattle ; 
consequently many people were collected in the street. Upon 
making particular inquiries respecting the evening, I ascertained, 
for a certainty, that it was on the evening, and at the veinf time, 
we were in communication with Miss Brackett. That a lamp 
was taken from the engine-house — it being next door to the 
watch-house — on the alarm being given by the watch, I think 
very probable. The fact, however, is not known. Miss B., you 
may remember, would not give any account of my parlors, but 
answered all questions by saying, ' You can see as well as I 
can.' Neither was I much more successful on visiting the office ; 
for she dismissed that with two or three remarks, such as, ' You 
are not very neat;' 'It looks nearly as bad as Dr. Capron's ; ' 
which, sub rosd, was satisfactory evidence to my mind that she 
must have seen it. I then prevailed upon her to step into the 
kitchen ; and upon inquiring if any one was there, she answered 
that there was a girl about twenty-five years of age, dressed in a 
small figured pink calico dress, and that she was mixing bread or 



APPENDIX. 259 

cake, and that no one was with her. Immediately upon my re- 
turn, I inquired of the girl whether she mixed any bread or cake 
on Tuesday evening, and she gave a decided negative answer; but 
said she mixed bread on Monday evening. 1 then left her, and 
concluded that Miss B. must have been mistaken. The girl soon 
followed me into the parlor, with eyes as large as tolerably-sized 
tea-cups, and exclaimed, ' Why, yes, sir, I did bring some dough 
from the cellar into the kitchen, and worked it over, and put it 
into the closet' Upon asking her what time in the evening, 
she said, 'Between half past 9 and 10 o'clock ;' which corresponds 
with the time when Miss B. was on her visit to Boston. 

" With regard to her giving you cistern water * to drink, from 
a tin wash-bowl, and her remarks concerning the dog, I was fully 
satisfied of the correctness of her statements then, and have found 
no cause to alter my opinion since my return. You will recol- 
lect, upon leaving my house, I took her to visit the house of a 

sister of mine, Mrs. G , and upon going, as I supposed, into 

the parlor, she evidently took another door leading from the same 
entry, and went into Mrs. G.'s chamber. For, after giving her a 
reasonable time to look around, she says, " If you will get up, 1 

* In order to obtain a more particular description of things, 1 said to 
Miss B., — Dr. Flint and myself being both in communication with her, — 
" Let us sit down here in the parlor. I wish you would have the good- 
ness to ask the girl to bring me some water." Miss B., immediately 
gliding down into the kitchen, made the request ; but, after waiting for a 
reply, she added, " I shall have to do it myself, for she will not answer 
me." She returned, and, with her fingers arranged as if she were holding 
a dish, said, " Here it is ; the girl would not answer me." 1 drank. She 
took the vessel, and, carrying it to the place from whence she took it, she 
exclaimed, " There, 1 have given Mr. Hartshorn water out of the wrong 
pump : this is the good water. I gave him the hand-basin to drink from." 
Dr. Flint inquired where she got it, and she described the cistern pump, 
and said she found the basin hanging up by the side of it. " But," said 
she, " the other pump has good water in it, for I drew some and tasted it. 
I hope you will excuse me, sir." 

Dr. Flint, several of whose friends from Boston were present, assured 
me, as he has in this letter, that the description of the relative position of 
the pumps, &c, was accurate. 

It may as well be added in this place, that it was necessary for each 
of us to have hold of the young lady's hand, or to touch her person, other- 
wise the communication is entirely destroyed. Once, when I wished Dr. 
Flint to converse with her alone, I withdrew my hand from hers, saying, 
before releasing it, " 1 will return directly." " I wonder he should go off 
so," said Miss B. During the time the two were in conversation, I re- 
tained my seat; and. on taking her hand again, she asked me where I 
had been, observing, " I wonder you could leave me in the house of a 
stranger." 

But when a somnambulist is not sent abroad, it is not by any means 
necessary to retain the hand. You may be in communication, though at 
any part of the room. Sometimes he is told to converse with all who are 
present. Then he hears every thing addressed directly to him, but not 
.he conversation of others. [See Note X.] 



260 APPENDIX. 

will pm your dress for you. Your brother is in the other room, 
and wishes to see you." She likewise remarked, that there was 
a child in the bed with her, (Mrs. G.,) about eighteen months old* 
Mrs. G. was in bed at that time, and her little girl, about four 
years old, with her. I would remark, that Miss B. was correct 
with respect to the color of Mrs. G.'s hair. 

" I fear I have not given you a sufficiently-minute account of 
the matter, but want of time must be my excuse. If there are 
any particulars upon which you would like a more detailed ac- 
count, I shall be happy to furnish them. 

" I am, sir, very respectfully, 

" Your friend and servant, 

"JOHN FLINT. 
" Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn." 



NOTE XV. 

In note fourth of part first, I detailed the experiment of Mr. 
Covill, of Troy, in New York ; and as no reply had been received, 
I promised to make known the result in this part As the whole 
has been laid before the public in Colonel Stone's " Letter to Dr. 
Brigham" I will merely add, that Mr. Isaac Thurber has received 
a letter from the gentleman in question, which confirms the truth 
of Colonel Stone's statement. Miss B. read the sealed packet in 
the following manner : — 

" No other than the eye of Omnipotence can read this in this en- 
velopement. **** # * 1837." 

The true reading was, — 

" No other than the eye of Omnipotence can read this sentence 
in this envelope. Troy, New York, August, 1837." 

"Providence, Octobers, 1837. 
" Dear Sir : About three weeks since, I received a letter 
Rev. Richard Stone, pastor of the First Congregational So- 
Tf West Bridgewater, Mass., enclosing one addressed to 
ackett, with a request that she would read it without 
g the seals. As he is a particular friend of hers, she was 
J induced to do it, though such communications have gen- 
erally been read with reluctance, as it requires great exertion to 
read through several thicknesses of paper, as is frequently ne- 
cessary. 

" I addressed a line to Mr. Stone, giving Miss Brackett's read- 
ing of the letter directed to her, and have just received an answer 
from him, in which he says, ' Your letter containing mine, with 



APPENDIX. 261 

the seals unbroken, came safely to hand, and, to my gratification, 
it was read correctly.' 

" Should you consider this fact of any importance, you are at 
liberty to make such disposition of it as you may think proper. 

" Yours, with respect, 

"G. CAPRON. 
"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 

Experiments of this kind have been tried frequently. The 
fact that some somnambulists have the faculty of seeing 
through opaque substances, is established beyond a doubt. [See 
Note X.] 



NOTE XVI. 

When a somnambulist has any thing in his hand, the magnet- 
izer may will him to give it to any person in the room, and it will 
be done accordingly, though not a word be said by any one. If 
another individual attempt to take it by grasping it, or by insinu- 
ating his hand between the object and the hand of the person to 
whom it is offered, the somnambulist evades him with the rapidi- 
ty of thought, and places it where he was requested to place it 
I have seen several persons try in this manner, all at a time, to 
seize the object, but without success. With almost inconceiva- 
ble dexterity of evasion, the somnambulists retained their own 
hold, and conveyed the charge in safety. 

What is equally singular was related to me by Mr. Pot- 
ter. A patient of his, with whom I am acquainted, when she 
is in the somnambulic state, though she does not see, that is, has 
no clairvoyance, when requested to hand any object to another, 
though the magnetizer endeavor to exert no influence at the time, 
will not give it up to any hut the person designated. She does 
not offer any explanation of this herself, but says she always 
knows when the right person presents his hand, even when he 
says nothing. This has been Avitnessed by several of my friends. 
The case of this young lady is a strong one to prove the allevi- 
ating power of magnetism. She is under the medical care of 
Dr. L. L. Miller. [See a note at the end of the Appendix.] 



NOTE XVII. 

Somnambulists frequently display ingenuity and acuteness of 
thought which are very striking. An instance may be given 
which was related to me by Dr. Cleveland, of Pawtuxet. 

Professor Yates, of Schenectady, and Rev. Mr. Dumont, of 
Newport, had been admitted by him to see a patient of his, while 



262 APPENDIX. 

in the somnambulic state. After various experiments to test the 
clairvoyance of the lady, one of the gentlemen, perhaps to dispel 
the lingering mist of incredulity, opened the Testament, and, 
pointing to a verse, requested her to read it. She declined read- 
ing it ; but at length said she would read one on the opposite 
leaf. On being desired to do so, she pointed her finger to the 
following passage, and read it : " Except ye see signs and won- 
ders, ye will not believe ! " — John iv. 48. 



NOTE XVIII. 

The following passage is extracted from one of the letters of 
Lafayette to Washington. As it was written in English, the 
reader will perceive the peculiarities which stamp it as the pro- 
duction of a foreigner. It is found in the "Memoirs, Corre- 
spondence, and Manuscripts, of General Lafayette, published by his 
Family," 3 vols., just issued by Messrs. Saunders & Otley, New 
York. 

" A German doctor, called Mesmer, having made the greatest 
discovery upon animal magnetism, he has instructed scholars, 
among whom your humble servant is called one of the most 
enthusiastic. I know as much as any conjurer ever did, which 
reminds me of our friend's at Fishkill interview with the devil, 
that made us laugh so much at his house ; and, before I go, I will 
get leave to let you into the secret of Mesmer, which, you may 
depend upon, is a grand philosophical discovery." 



NOTE XIX. 

Somnambulism will probably give the death-blow to supersti- 
tion, at least in some of its forms. The superstitious are they 
who, through ignorance, attribute natural appearances and events 
to a supernatural cause, and are the least likely to have faith in 
the power of this agent. Prepossessed, as they generally are, 
with the opinion that a supernatural influence is exerted in all 
uncommon things which they cannot account for, they are un- 
willing to listen to one who refers them to a principle whose 
laws are but little known. They see all history full of unac- 
countable relations ; and they look upon the attempt to explain 
them rationally as daring, and even impious. Such is the case 
with some very conscientious, but very weak, people. They do 
not consider that Omnipotence is displayed as much in the ex- 
traordinary application of known principles, as in the application 
of those which are hidden from us ; and that the idea of a contra- 



APPENDIX. 263 

vention of natural laws, does not of necessity enter into the sig- 
nification of the word miracle. The word miraculous, meaning 
wonderful, may with propriety be applied to every exertion of 
divine power which surpasses our ordinary experience. But if 
it were necessary to quiet the apprehensions of such people, it 
might be stated that the least miracle recorded in holy writ is 
beyond comparison greater than any thing effected by this agent. 
The turning of water into wine, and the healing of the sick by 
the touch, are the only things that are approached in semblance 
by the magnetic action. To affirm that the two things are the 
same, is an assumption not warranted by a careful attention to 
the facts. And if, in the two cases, the same agent is employed, 
we cannot help perceiving a vast difference in the effects pro- 
duced. In one, the cure is instantaneous ; in the other, long and 
tedious. In the one, there is no failure ; in the other, there is 
uncertainty. 

The tree that is caused to spring from the earth instantane- 
ously to a great growth, and the one that throws out its branches 
one by one, gaining its maturity in a hundred years, may both 
be sustained by the same laws of vegetative growth, accelerated 
in one case, and not in the other. Yet the first exhibits an 
instance of miraculous power exerted, and the other follows the 
course of nature in its slow developement. It is not, therefore, a 
derogation from the virtue of recorded miracles to suppose we 
have obtained a faint glimpse of the principles by which they 
were performed ; but the supposition is gratuitous. 

The crude and ill-digested state of our knowledge on this sub- 
ject, the wonderful effects which have been produced, and the 
suggestive energy with which they are fraught, have led enthu- 
siastic men into a wide and boundless field of speculation. They 
imagine there are no limits to this power because they cannot fix 
them. 

They are like the first discoverers of Nootka Sound, who laid 
it down on their charts as a vast inland sea, simply because the 
mist prevented their seeing the opposite shore. They do mis- 
chief to the cause of truth by rash attempts to sustain unfounded 
theories ; and they are they who have broached the doctrine to 
which allusion has been made. 

When we examine the subject coolly, we shall find in it traces 
of what has been practised for centuries. Witchcraft, magic, 
exorcism, and sorcery, will soon be capable no more of perplex- 
ing the minds of men ; for superstition will be known no more. 
As the progress of astronomy dispelled the dread inspired by 
eclipses and by comets, which "from their horrid hair shook 
pestilence and war," so may the discovery of this new power in 
the human mind destroy the lingering remnants of superstition, 
while it also rescues from the reproach of utter falsehood many 
a tale of barbaric times. 



264 APPENDIX. 



NOTE XX. — Page 108. 

Transmission of Pain. — The transmission of the symptoms 
from the magnetizer to the magnetized is frequent, and it is for 
this reason that Deleuze considers good health indispensable in 
a magnetizer. In the case of Madame Montaux, we see the 
opposite effect taking place. If this occurs more frequently than 
we are aware of it, it may account for the peculiar oppression 
and weakness which some persons feel after magnetizing. And 
if there be any truth in the theory of a fluid, the directions given 
by Deleuze to flirt the fingers at the termination of a pass, in order 
to throw it off from ourselves, derive additional weight from this 
circumstance, and are worthy of being implicitly followed in 
cases of contagious disease. 

I have known a somnambulist, when in her natural state, to be 
afflicted with a violent side-ache, in consequence of sitting down 
and taking the hand of a patient then being magnetized for that 
complaint. Her susceptibility to the magnetic influence was so 
great that, although the magnetizer did not direct his attention 
to her, she was the first of the two to fall into the magnetic 
state. 

The same thing has been observed by the celebrated physiol- 
ogist Georget. He says that, whenever he put his somnambulists 
in communication with a sick person, they immediately experi- 
enced a pain, an uneasiness, and sometimes a sharp affection, in 
the corresponding organs. 



NOTE XXL — Page 119. 

The Magnetic Fluid. — I have heard patients say they can 
see the magnetic fluid, as did those of M. N. Whether this is 
an illusion of the imagination, or whether there is in reality a 
fluid, has long been a matter of question among the learned. 
M. Bertrand, in his work on somnambulism, rejects the opinion 
of its existence. He says that the idea originates or is per- 
petuated in the minds of the magnetizers, and is thence trans- 
fused into the minds of their patients. That such might be the 
case, were there no fluid, there cannot be much doubt ; but it 
has frequently happened that patients have professed to see the 
fluid when they who magnetized them were not fluidists. And 
it must also be remembered that the imagination of somnam- 
bulists cannot be permanently affected in regard to an object. 
As soon as the will of the operator ceases to act, the object 
returns to what it really is. For instance, he may cause a lady's 
work-bag to have the appearance of a child, and he may in- 



APPENDIX. 265 

duce the patient to caress it as such ; but the moment he with- 
draws his attention from the subject, it returns to its proper 
appearance, and she hugs the illusion no more.* If you try 
this experiment, and find out that every impression of that kind 
is of necessity transient, will there not be some difficulty in 
adopting Bertrand's notion? Besides, it requires a positive ef- 
fort to induce a deception of any kind ; and many who try to do 
it, fail, because they have not exerted sufficient energy of con- 
ception. It would therefore seem impossible for a mere opinion 
among magnetizers that such a fluid does exist, to produce 
an illusion so strong as to deceive their somnambulists, and 
make them constantly affirm the same thing in regard to its ex- 
istence. 

It should, however, be borne in mind, as somnambulism pre- 
sents so great a variety of phases, and is attended with such 
diversity of powers, we cannot be too cautious in adopting the- 
ories, especially such as tend to foreclose all further investigation 
of the points in question. 

It ought to be stated here, that some somnambulists do not see 
any fluid, even when their attention is drawn to it 

If any one thinks this a strong objection to the theory of a 
fluid, let him remember that somnambulists vary greatly in the 
power of clairvoyance ; and not only so, the same individual has 
it at one time very weak, and at another time very strong. It is 
difficult to conceive how any effect can take place without a 
material medium. It may be granted that somnambulism may, 
under certain circumstances, occur by the mere power of the 
imagination ; but this does not by any means admit the conclu- 
sion that the phenomena are attributable to the same cause, or 
that the will and influence of another's mind do not produce any 
effect when they are exerted. Polarity may be given to an iron 
rod, heated to a certain degree and held in a certain direction, 
by a smart blow at one end with a hammer ; and the rod may 
acquire polarity by the silent operation of nature in the course 
of a long time, if left in the same position. But if, from the lat- 
ter fact, we infer that the hammer had no agency in the former 
one, we are guilty of an absurdity altogether analogous to the 
one hinted at above. 

Allowing, then, that the effect is produced by the vis volunta- 
tis of the magnetizer, and that it is difficult to conceive how it 
can act without a medium, we should not reject an opinion which 
is supported by the authority of perhaps nine tenths of the Euro- 
pean writers on the subject, unless we can present the apology 

* I am assured by Dr. Cleveland, of Pawtuxet, that he has one patient 
whom neither he nor any other person has ever succeeded in deceiving by 
experiments of this kind, though they have been often tried. 

23 



%66 APPENDIX. 

of a thorough investigation. We may hold it in doubt until it is 
proved to be correct. 

But we could give another reason in favor of the theory. The 
passes are always made downwards to produce an effect, and 
upwards, or transversely, when we wish to lessen the magnetic 
action, or relieve it entirely. 

Let any one try the one for the other, and the result may assist 
him in perceiving the force of the argument If a patient re- 
quires the manipulations in order to be put to sleep, and you 
cannot effect it by the upward passes, is it not a proof that the 
imagination does not play the most important part in producing 
the magnetic sleep ? Of course, it must not be forgotten that 
some magnetizers make no passes at all with very susceptible 
persons ; but since the passes are generally requisite, we may 
argue from the general fact. 

Sitting once with a somnambulist while she was in a mag- 
netized state, she observed to me, " You could magnetize very 
well; you can magnetize my hand;" at the same time she ex- 
tended her hand towards me. I took her lightly by the wrist, 
and, with my other hand, made several passes along her hand 
from the wrist to the ends of the fingers. It was paralyzed. I 
suspected she had done it voluntarily, for I have heard of their 
doing it of their own accord,* and I had determined not to exert 
any will during the manipulation. Several persons in the room 
came to examine the hand. " Now bring it back again," said 
the somnambulist. " Well," said I ; and I began the passes in 
the same direction as before. The rigidity of the fingers and 
the tension of the muscles became extreme. She seized my 
wrist, and, with considerable violence, made me change the di- 
rection of the passes from the fingers to the wrist; and eight or 
ten of them restored the hand to the natural state. This is a 
question which may one day be satisfactorily settled ; and, per- 
haps, it involves important considerations in regard to the pro- 
cesses employed in curing the sick. 

* Miss A****, a young lady magnetized by Mr. William Grant, of Prov- 
idence, has the power of paralyzing either of her own arms or fingers, 
when she is in the natural state, and that by the mere force of her own 
will. 

While Miss A**** was on a visit in !New York, Dr. David L. Rogers 
called upon her, stating his desire to investigate the subject, and his utter 
disbelief in its power. Miss A. being in the natural state, Mr. Grant, in 
order to convince him that he possessed this power, requested Dr. 
Rogers to magnetize the lower part of one of her arms. The doctor took 
hold of the forearm, and at the same time, as he afterwards declared, 
willed to have the shoulder paralyzed. On asking the question, it was 
found that she could move the forearm very well, but, on requesting her 
to move her shoulder, it was completely paralyzed, so that she could not 
move it. 



APPENDIX. 267 



NOTE XXII. — Page 136. 

Scrofula. — Mr. Daniel Greene, of Pawtucket, has been suc- 
cessful in diseases of this class. 1 have seen one of his pa- 
tients, thirteen years of age, a somnambulist, whom he has cured 
of the king's evil. 



NOTE XXIII. — Page 139. 

Epilepsy. — Miss *#****, of this city, has been successfully 
treated for this complaint by Dr. Brownell. He began to mag- 
netize her in the month of January last, and has continued the 
treatment up to the present time. This young woman has exhib- 
ited some of the most striking traits of clairvoyance. Among the 
many individuals who have had an opportunity to witness them, 
p.to Rev. John A. Clark, of Philadelphia, Rev. Drs. Yates and 
Potter, of Schenectady, Rev. A. Kaufman, of Charleston, S. C, 
and Dr. Joshua B. Flint, of Boston. In the consultations she has 
had, she has been successful in pointing out the causes and the 
seats of some diseases ; and so much confidence has been inspired 
in the correctness of her observations, that few who know the 
circumstances, would hesitate to rely upon them in cases of dis- 
location, of diseases which affect the bones, &c. She is not a 
* somnambulist by profession," and is not, therefore, liable to the 
suspicion which is involved in the consideration of pecuniary 
interest. 

In order to state this case correctly, I have just been to see 
Dr. Brownell, and gathered the following particulars in the 
course of conversation : — 

She had been troubled with epileptic fits about six years. 
They were at first irregular in their attacks, but afterwards they 
came on as frequently as once a fortnight, and sometimes once a 
week ; and they were very severe. She has been under mag- 
netic treatment about eight months, during which no medicinal 
remedies have been administered. 

At the first sitting, which lasted about three quarters of an 
hour, no apparent effect was produced by the manipulations. At 
the second, sleep was induced in about twenty minutes. At the 
third, in about ten minutes. At the fourth sitting, she was put 
into the magnetic sleep in a minute, the magnetizer standing 
about eight feet off, and making no motions of the hands ; since 
which time no manipulatory processes have been used. 

She is generally awakened by making the reversed passes ; 
but is easily roused by the volition of the magnetizer. If she is 
told to wake up at any given time, she is punctual in doing it 
Dr. Brownell once left her in the somnambulic state at his own 



268 APPENDIX. 

house, and in communication with several visitors, bidding her to 
wake up at 5 o'clock. He then took the Fall River steamer, 
which started at 3 o'clock, intending to be absent about twen- 
ty-four hours. While on the passage, about ten miles down 
the river, fearing that the visitors at his house might, by their 
experiments and conversation with her, prevent the patient fiom 
waking at the specified time, and being desirous of trying the 
extent of his influence, he told the Rev. Frederick A. Farley, 
who was in the boat, that he intended to "cut off the communi- 
cation between them." On his return, he learned that she had 
ceased speaking at fifteen minutes before 4 o'clock, after which 
no one in the room could get any replies to the questions 
which were asked her. On waking up at the appointed time^ 
(5 o'clock,) before the visitors had retired, she gave as a reason 
for her conduct, that Dr. Brownell had told her not to answer 
them. 

The health of this young lady appears now to be fully estab- 
lished. She has not had an epileptic fit since the commence- 
ment of the treatment. In the magnetic state, she declares that 
she is perfectly cured, and shall have no return of the disorder.* 



NOTE XXIV. — Page 148. 

Blindness.. — In the Appendix to the first part of this work, I 
have inserted some articles in relation to Miss Loraina Brackett, 
which the reader will recollect. Since those articles were pub- 
lished, I have received, among other foreign books on the subject, 
two large volumes, containing an alphabetical list of cures effected 
in France, from the time of Mesmer to the present, to which Be- 
leuze refers in a note, p. 154. Among these cures, which, by the 
way, are duly authenticated by the names of physicians, patients, 
and witnesses, so that they may as justly claim our attention as 
any on record, there are several performed upon persons totally 
or partially blind. 

It will be recollected that Mesmer had nearly succeeded in 
restoring perfect sight to Mademoiselle Paradis, at Vienna, and 
would doubtless have succeeded thoroughly, had he been per- 
mitted to remain secure from the attacks of bigotry and igno- 
rant malice. The whole of that case is detailed at length in 
these volumes. Many others also may be found under the heads 

* This case ocetirred more than five years ago. Dr. Brownell ceased 
the treatment on her assuring him, while in somnambulism, of her com- 
plete restoration, and future exemption from the attacks. She said it 
would be injurious to prolong the treatment. Her brother, Mr. Thomas 
M. Parker, recently informed me that her health has continued very good; 
and her appearance seems fully to justify the assertion. (1843.) 



APPENDIX. 269 

of Cteite, Goutte Sereine, and OpMalmie. I cannot refrain from 
translating two of them. 

"M. Hebert was at Paris in January, 1814, among the con- 
scripts destined to join the grenadiers of the guard. Certain 
writings which had been given him to do at the barracks, and in 
the performance of which he had already passed several nights, 
occasioned an inflammation of the right eye. Having gone to 
pay a visit to M. Ducommun, the latter proposed to magnetize 
him. He consented, but with the air of a person who placed no 
faith in it. The next day, he returned, with his eye still more 
red than it was the day before. M. Ducommun put him in com- 
munication with a somnambulist, who prescribed leeches at the 
temples. The two succeeding days, not having seen him, M. 
Ducommun went to him, and found him on a bed, surrounded 
with domestics, neighbors, a nurse, and all the medical parapher- 
nalia. He was told that M. Hebert had passed a very bad night ; 
that he had had a frightful delirium ; that four persons could hardly 
hold him; and that the physician had declared him to be affected 
with a nervous malignant fever. He approached the bed gently, 
and placed his hand upon the pit of his stomach, scarcely touching 
him, and saying nothing. At the end of several minutes, M. 
Hebert was in somnambulism, and could tell the cause of his 
disorder. It was the optic nerve, which, irritated by the inflam- 
mation of the eye, had communicated the same irritation by sym- 
pathy to all the nervous system. In the evening, M. Ducommun 
returned, and found the patient sitting near the fire, alone with 
his nurse. The latter told him he had been better during the 
day. He approached him, put him to sleep by touching his 
stomach, and made him write down the state of his health, and 
the remedies proper for him. He ordered for himself a copious 
bleeding on the right arm, leeches at the temples, clysters, bath- 
ing of the feet, barley-broth (sirop oVorgeat) for drink, &c. 
When he was awakened, M. Ducommon showed him his pre- 
scription, and told him to request his physician to bleed him the 
next morning, if it appeared to him proper. ' He will be so much 
the more willing,' replied Hebert, ' as he told me this morning 
such was his intention.' 

"The next day, February 3d, M. Ducommun arrived, and asked 
the patient the effects of the bleeding. < The physician would 
not do it' * Why ? he ordered it himself.' ' Yes ; but when he 
knew that I had been magnetized, and that my own prescrip- 
tion, given in somnambulism, had been presented to him, he was 
excited against you, and he went out, declaring he would never 
set foot in the house again.' 

" M. Ducommun was grieved by this disappointment ; but he 
put M. Hebert asleep, who told him to send for a surgeon merely 
to bleed him. As soon as the patient was bled, he experienced 
23 * 



270 APPENDIX. 

relief. On the 5th, he caused leeches to be applied at 9 o'clock 
in the morning. On the 6th, he was much better; he ordered 
for himself clysters and foot-baths ; and finally, on the 27th, he 
said the eye was cured, and that it was only necessary to cover 
it with a bandage to protect it from the cold. 

" The next day, he wrote to his father an account of his disease, 
and the singular circumstances of his cure ; and, as nothing pre- 
vented his going out, he came to pass the evening at M. Ducom- 
mun's, and to be magnetized. Three or four hours had hardly 
passed away, when he perceived a foreign body introduced into 
his weak eye, which had there caused a little globule of blood. 
He prescribed for himself an emollient and cooling poultice ; 
and, in case the blood were not dissipated at the end of two 
days, a leech was to be applied to the eye, directly on the af- 
fected part. 

" The next morning, the mistress of the house where he resided 
sent a servant to M. Ducommun, to inform him that M. Hebert 
had just been arrested by two agents of police, who, without 
hearing his expostulations, and without regarding the state of his 
disease, had compelled him to dress himself forthwith, and car- 
ried him away with the poultice over his eye. M. Ducommun 
ran immediately, but he could obtain no information from the 
persons in the hotel. No one had thought or dared to ask these 
agents whither they were conducting M. Hebert. He went to 
the police office, without any information ; he went to the houses 
of all the friends of the prisoner, without introductions. Finally, 
after fifteen days of fruitless search and painful expectation, he 
received a letter from M. Hebert, in which he announced to him 
that he had been arrested as a refractory conscript ; that, without 
more ample information, they had cast him into a cold and damp 
prison, where he had nothing but straw for bed and covering ; 
that the fever had seized him anew, and the ophthalmia had 
returned ; but, nevertheless, the symptoms had diminished by 
degrees, and he was cured ; but had lost his right eye entirely.* 

" On the reception of this distressing intelligence, M. Ducom- 
mun wrote forthwith to general the Baron Preval, to obtain leave 
of absence for M. Hebert, having still the hope of restoring sight 
to him. The general had the goodness to grant the request 

" Hebert hastened to the house of M. Ducommun. After many 
explanations of his adventure, and its sad results, and after the 
examination of his eye, which appeared to be very good, but 
which was insensible to the impression of the strongest light, the 
latter magnetized him. Hebert was no sooner in the magnetic 
state, than he burst out into the most lively emotions of anger 
and despair. ' Wretches ! ' cried he ; 'to treat me like a vile 

* Many examples of the danger of interrupting magnetic treatment are: 
given in this work. — Trans. 



APPENDIX. 271 

criminal ! to throw me into prison! to refuse me all aid ! If I am 
not dead, it is no fault of theirs ! What injustice ! what infamy ! ' 

"'My friend, be calm.' ' Ah, sir, let me breathe out my rage 
and my chagrin. In the wakeful state I command myself; but I 
injure myself by doing it. This tends to console me, and dissi- 
pate the sadness into which I am plunged.' 

" When his passion was calmed, M. Ducornmun demanded 
whether his eye was irretrievably lost. He examined it with 
attention, and said, no ; there were three days left to commence 
a new treatment ; and if it were not done in that space of time, 
there were no human means capable of curing it. 'How many 
days are required to accomplish a complete cure ? ' ' Twelve? 

"As soon as he was awakened, M. Ducornmun told him to go 
and ask leave of absence for a fortnight, to enable him to bring 
him under treatment. He obtained it the next day, and returned 
in the evening with his father, who, alarmed at what had befallen 
his son, had come from Merlerault, where he lived. 

" When the elder Hebert was gone, M. Ducornmun put the 
young man asleep. The crisis occurred as he had announced it, 
but much weaker than the first one. ' Do not abandon me,' said 
he to his magnetizer ; ' if you do not treat me yourself, I shall 
never recover my health.' ' What must be done to your eye, to 
commence with?' 'Recall the ophthalmia; my eye is in the 
condition of a limb broken and unskilfully set, which ought to be 
broken anew.' ' How much time have we now to commence a 
new treatment ? ' ' Until 12 o'clock, to-morrow.' ' Why not a. 
longer time ? ' ' Because there still remains a trace of the last 
inflammation, which would cease at that epoch. If it were com- 
pletely passed, the eye would be radically cured, and I should be 
one-eyed for life ; but by means of the remains of this inflamma- 
tion, not apparent, it is true, but which nevertheless exist-, I will 
recall the disease ; I will treat it as it ought to have been treated, 
and as fast as the pain and the inflammation disappear, the sight 
will return.' 

" He then said it was necessary to put a handful of coarse salt 
into boiling water, to place his eye above the vapor, and to con- 
tinue this three days, in order to bring on a speedy inflammation. 
M. Ducornmun observed to him, that, according to the laws of 
chemistry, the salt does not volatilize with the steam, and, in con- 
sequence, the irritation he wished to produce could not occur. 
' I am sorry for chemistry,' said he, ' but I assure you the water 
will raise a part of the salt, which will irritate the eve and bring 
on an inflammation.' 

" This effect took place as he had predicted. 

"The fourth day, he ordered for himself the following collyrium : 
Boil a fresh egg till it is hard, take off the shell, cut it into two 
equal parts, take away the yolk, put in the place of it a piece 
of white vitriol as large as a pea, moisten the whole with four 



272 APPENDIX. 

spoonfuls of rose-water, put it into a fine linen cloth, press out the 
liquid through the linen, and use it to make three injections 
daily into the affected eye. 

" This collyrium, three drops of which were put into the eye by 
the end of the finger, as he had directed, was the only remedy 
employed in the cure. On the fifth day, the patient said he could 
see the light, if one would uncover his eye a moment. The ex- 
periment was made for my own satisfaction ; but only once. On 
the tenth day, the inflammation began to diminish, the pain was 
not so sharp, and he could bear daylight for a few instants. On 
the twelfth, he was perfectly cured. He then ordered for him- 
self the use of green spectacles for two months, because his eye 
would be still feeble and delicate all that time, on account of the 
various treatments which it had received. 

" Some days after his entire cure, he gave notice to M. Ducom- 
mun, that he should lose his clairvoyance in less than two days. 
'Will you cease to sleep?' 'No; I shall always sleep when 
you wish me to ; but I shall cease to see so long as I am well.' 
At these words, M. Ducommun testified his sorrow at losing him 
at the moment when he had a sick son. M. Hebert reflected an 
instant ; all at once he uttered a cry of joy, and informed him 
he had just found out how to preserve his clairvoyance while in 
health. He afterwards told him what was to be done for this 
purpose, put off the execution of it till the next day, and made 
him promise never to tell this method to any person, not even to 
himself, when he should awake. The next day after he had been 
put into somnambulism in pursuance of his own direction, he 
assured us he should be clairvoyant so long as he was in good 
health ; but, by a change in the ordinary laws of magnetism, he 
should see no more when sick, provided the same means were 
not employed which had then just been used.* 

" M. Ducommun adds, that he never saw a somnambulist less 
fatigued with holding consultations, more prompt and correct in 
seeing diseases, or more sure in pointing out the remedy or the 
treatment. Such was the superiority of his clairvoyance, that 
other somnambulists asked his advice. 

" We once had occasion to see M. Hebert in somnambulism ; he 
was wounded in the knee, and at first consulted one of the most 
celebrated physicians in Paris, M. D** # . Not being satisfied 
with his advice, he came to M. Ducommun to be magnetized. 
As soon as he was in somnambulism, he mentioned the consulta- 
tion of the doctor, and told us in what respect appearances had 
deceived him. Then he detailed the cause and the effects of his 
disease, and pointed out the remedies with the greatest readiness 
and the most entire confidence." 

* " ' We know,' says the compiler, ' that the execution of this 
means was preceded by a terrible nervous crisis.' " — Trans. 



APPENDIX. 273 

The next case which I shall translate is that of the Mar- 
chioness of Rousses, aged forty-five years, at Paris, in 1818, 
under the charge of M. B* # *, a member of the Society of Mag- 
netism, originally published in the "Biblioifaque du Magnetisme" 
No. 16, p. 47. 

" On the 26th of June, 1816, Madame la Marquise des Rousses, 
coming from mass at the church of Saint Sulpice, where she had 
had a long fainting fit, while in the midst of the Petit-Bourbon 
Street, was suddenly struck with an attack of the gutta serena, 
She was conducted home by her attendants, and had lost her 
sight. A large blister was applied immediately to the back of 
the neck. The next day, when it was removed, she experienced 
something like an electric shock ; she saw something flash before 
her eyes ; and she fainted again. Recovering her senses, she 
perceived that all hope was vain ; she was totally blind. 

"During the first months of her disease, the marchioness expe- 
rienced inconceivable pains in the head. The disease, without 
being apparent, manifested itself all at once by a swelling so 
extraordinary in the muscles of the back part of the head, that 
her head-dress was moved by the violence of their contraction. 
Not able to endure the bed, she thus passed three months ex- 
tended upon a sofa, and without sleeping. M. l'Abbe d'A # * 
T*** had then occasion to see her. He magnetized her ; but in- 
dispensable affairs obliged him to discontinue the treatment. 
Her health grew worse, and she removed into the country. 

"Finally, after two years and a half of suffering, she returned 
to Paris in the beginning of July, 1818, and stopped at the house 
of M. l'Abbe d'A***. By good fortune, she there met M. B***, 
to whom she spoke of her sad condition. Touched with her mis- 
fortunes, he proposed to magnetize her. She consented to it, 
and in a few minutes she was in somnambulism. Her clairvoy- 
ance was gradually developed in a singular manner. One day, 
consulting with herself about the fate of her son, who had been 
absent ten years, she saw him arrive from America, and land at 
Calais three days afterwards. It will be seen that this circum- 
stance was not, as some might think, altogether foreign to the 
treatment of Madame des Rousses. She caused M. B*** to 
write a letter to her son, and with her own hand added to the 
letter two lines, while she was in the somnambulic state, and 
announced the time when an answer would arrive. The answer 
did not arrive at the time specified ; * and the inquietude of Ma- 
dame des Rousses caused her to quit the country seat where she 
lived, and where M. B*** used to go every week to magnetize 

* " M. des Rousses remained but a few days at. Calais. Important 
affairs obliged him to go suddenly to Havre ; and this is what pre- 
vented his answer from arriving in due season." 



274 APPENDIX. 

her, and she returned to Paris. M. B** # arrived at her house 
with a somnambulist, M. Lemaire, a young soldier, of twenty- 
three years, blind also, in consequence of a gun-shot wound in 
the head. M. B** # put the two in communication, and made 
them examine each other's case. Madame des Rousses told M. 
Lemaire that he would see well enough to walk. And he, in his 
turn, assured her that the same cause which had deprived her 
of sight would restore it, viz., the blood. l A strong excitement? 
said he, ' will give it an impetuous tendency to the head.'' ' Yes, 
it is true ; and I see all the humors flow out by the ears. This 
excitement will be occasioned by the presence of my dear son; 
and I shall see him at Havre. I must go thither ; I must depart 
immediately.' Instantly Madame des Rousses employed herself 
in searching the places where the hacks usually st:ind. She 
looked at them all, and finally found some in the Bouloy Street 
' There are two left,' said she. Some one went and ascertained 
it to be a fact. Filled with confidence in divine Providence, 
Madame des Rousses departed the same day for Havre, and, 
some days after her arrival, she had the happiness of embracing 
her son. The impression of this moment produced an extraordi- 
nary effect upon her organs. She seemed to herself absolutely 
light-headed. The second day she experienced in her head the 
most violent pains, and especially on the night of the 20th and 
21st of October. Finally, between 4 and 5 o'clock in the morn- 
ing, after a moment of horrible sufferings, she heard, as she 
thought, the report of a pistol close to her ears. She fainted, 
and remained in a profound stupor until 8 o'clock in the morn- 
ing, when some one entered to call her. 

" They found her inundated with blood, and with a very black 
matter, which had flowed from the ears during the sleep which 
had succeeded her fainting fit. She put her hand to her head, 
and, raising the bandage which she kept constantly over her eyes, 
she perceived with rapture that the sight was restored to them. 

" The physician, who was immediately sent for, was confounded 
by an effect so extraordinary. He declared that the flowing 
which had taken place through the ears, ought, according to all 
the rules of the art, to have been diffused over the back part of the 
brain, and consequently to have occasioned the death of the pa- 
tient. Madame des Rousses did not recollect, in her ordinary 
state, that she had two months before announced this effect, and 
that from this moment she had requested M. B # '* # not to go be- 
yond the ears at each pass, in order to concentrate the action of 
the fluid there. 

" Since her return to Paris, she has been magnetized many 
times, and has ordered for herself the few medicaments which 
were necessary for the completion of the cure. M. B ### attended 
her to one of the sittings of the magnetic society, in order to 
remove all doubt in respect to this case. While there, Madame 



APPENDIX. 275 

des Rousses, in compliance with the desire of some one of the 
members, took the first volume presented to her, and read with- 
out hesitation. At present, her sight is so strong that she can 
read, work, or write, even without the aid of glasses. 

" We have entered into some details in regard to the Mar- 
chioness des Rousses, because we have had the happiness of 
seeing her many times. We were present when she made the 
relation of her treatment in somnambulism. It is impossible to 
imagine any thing more touching and interesting." 



NOTE XXV. 

The reader is here presented with letters from various physi 
cians, which cannot fail to be highly interesting, not only from 
the nature of the cases whose treatment is described, but from 
the high characters of the authors in their own profession. Most 
of the intelligent physicians of the country are turning then 
attention to this subject, with a desire to become acquainted with 
its claims as a remedial agent ; and, so far, it has sustained 
itself to the satisfaction of all who have approached it in this 
spirit These letters embrace precisely such cases as are stated 
in Deleuze, and have thus stamped the " Practical Instruction " with 
marks of its intrinsic value. 

FROM DOCTOR CLEVELAND. 

"Pawtuxet, October 2, 1837. 
« Dear Sir : It gives me much pleasure to comply with your 
request that 1 would communicate to you for publication the re- 
sults of my experience and observations in animal magnetism, as 
a therapeutic agent in the removal or mitigation of disease. I 
am the more, willingly disposed to submit the following cases, 
from the firm conviction that many persons who are laboring 
under severe indisposition, and who might be relieved, hesitate 
about having recourse to this agent, because they have not suffi- 
cient evidence of its power. If, by communicating them, I can 
induce such persons to have confidence enough in it to make a 
trial of its efficacy, I will also suggest the propriety of applying 
to some magnetizer who has an acquaintance, not only with the 
diseases to which we are liable, but also with the complicated 
machine upon which he is to act, and with the peculiar sympa- 
thetic movements which are constantly going on, and are ever 
liable to be excited therein.* 

* The observation here made by Dr. Cleveland is worthy of attention. 
It requires no little exertion of magnanimity to rise above the fear of hav- 
ing selfish motives attributed to us, when a sense of duty obliges us to tell 
what we believe to be an important truth. It will be found, when Deleuze 



276 APPENDIX. 

" First Case,. — The first case I will present is that of Miss , 

possessing a constitution originally firm, but recently much 
impaired by disease, affecting principally the nervous system. 
Neither the patient nor myself had ever seen any manipulations, 
and she knew nothing of magnetism, even by name, as it was 
then but recently introduced to public notice in New England. 

" About the first of January of the present year, she was at- 
tacked with an inflammation of the lungs. Her nerves became 
so much excited as to baffle all the ordinary means of quieting 
them, or of producing sleep. She was fast sinking for the want 
of rest, the least noise, even the snapping of the fire, throwing 
her into painful spasms. 

" Having heard of the effects of animal magnetism in cases of 
this kind, I gave it a trial, which resulted in procuring more quiet 
sleep, in five successive hours, than she had experienced in as 
many preceding days. But it took me an hour and a half before 
she was put into this sleep, and my perseverance was rewarded 
by the most clairvoyant somnambulism at this first essay. This 
was repeated daily, with the same happy effects in relation to the 
repose which she enjoyed; and she soon became convalescent 
A firmness was imparted to the nerves, which 1 had despaired of 
imparting by the usual medicinal means ; and although she is not 
restored to perfect health, her life was, in my opinion, preserved 
wholly by the salutary influence of the magnetic practice. 

" Dr. Eldridge, of East Greenwich, Dr. Perry, of Newport, Dr. 
Cleveland, of Pawtucket, and many other physicians, have had 
an opportunity to see this patient. Her clairvoyance is very 
lucid, and, while in the magnetic state, she reads any book with 
facility, though every precaution be used to bandage and secure 
her eyes. 

" Case second. — I was called to attend Miss , and found her 

laboring under a severe attack of the tic douloureux. I pursued 
the ordinary course of treatment for four days, without affording 
her the least alleviation. On the evening of the fourth day, I 
resorted to magnetism. After an hour and a half, complete relief 
was obtained. Owing, however, to the disturbed state of her 
mind, perfect sleep was not induced, though I have good evi- 
dence of her not having closed her eyes one hour for the three 
preceding days and nights. At the end of seven hours, the pain 
returned, though it was less violent I saw her soon after, and 
removed it as before, in one fourth part of the time. In ten hours, 
it returned again, when, by a slight effort, it was permanently re- 
moved. Somnambulism did not occur. 

is thoroughly studied, and when the subject of which he treats is better 
known, that his cautions on this head are not the result of timidity, but 
of well-informed fear, Jest it should be abused by the ignorant. His 
character and his long practice have justly made the u Practical Instruc- 
tion " the text-book of all European practitioners. 



APPENDIX. 277 

" Case third. — On the third day of last June, I was requested 

to visit Mrs. , of Providence, between thirty and forty years 

of age, from whom, and from her attending physician, Dr. L. L. 
Miller, I obtained the following histoiy of her recent and her then 
present situation. She had been laboring for three montJis under 
an affection of the liver. During this time, she had not left her 
chamber, had become considerably emaciated, and was daily 
losing her strength. Her nervous system had become so much 
deranged that she could not see her friends, could not sit up but 
a few minutes at once, and, at that time, she was suffering for the 
want of sleep. This deprivation of sleep was the occasion of my 
being called to see her. 

"I found that the principal cause of her suffering was the large 
accumulation of bile, which nothing but powerful doses of calomel 
could remove. From this she experienced temporary relief, al- 
though she said it rapidly exhausted her strength. In short, she 
appeared to be convinced that she could not continue long, and 
was satisfied that this was also the opinion of her physician. 
' Now,' said she, ' if you can, by the aid of magnetism, afford me 
any alleviation from my present sufferings, — if you can in the 
least smooth my passage to the tomb, — it is all I can expect' 

"The first attempt to procure sleep proved successful in thirty 
minutes ; and, though she slept but one hour, she felt much re- 
freshed, it being the first she had had in forty-eight hours. The 
next morning, I found she had passed a comfortable night I 
then magnetized her again, which had the effect of procuring a 
copious evacuation of bile, affording her all the relief, ivithout 
being attended with the debilitating effects, of calomel. Magnetism 
was continued several days, followed by the same results, and 
thus rendering- the use of cathartics unnecessary. Her health 
soon began to improve, and at the end of two weeks she was able 
to ride out I discontinued my visits on being assured by her 
that she was getting well fast enough. She was confident that 
she owed her restoration to magnetism, and she recently assured 
me that she should resort to it again, if she found herself re- 
lapsing into her former .miserable condition. 

" Case fourth. — Mrs. W , about thirty years old, was afflict- 
ed with hypochondriasis. I cannot give a better account of her 
situation than by giving Dr. Cullen's description of this disease, 
as every symptom therein described obtained in the present case. 
' The state of mind peculiar to hypochondriasis,' says Dr. C, ' is 
characterized by languor, listlessness ; a want of resolution and 
activity with respect to all undertakings ; a disposition to seri- 
ousness, sadness, and timidity, as to all future events ; an appre- 
hension of the worst or the most unhappy state of tilings ; and 
therefore, upon slight grounds of apprehension of great evil, such 

24 



278 APPENDIX. 

persons are peculiarly attentive to their health, to even the small- 
est change of feeling in their bodies; and from any unusual 
sensation, perhaps of the slightest kind, they apprehend great 
danger, and death itself. In respect to these feelings and fears 
there is commonly the most obstinate belief and persuasion.' 

"Considering Mrs. W a suitable subject to receive benefit 

from magnetism, I obtained permission to make use of it, though 
she was entirely skeptical, and thought the whole process of 
magnetism ridiculous and chimerical. On the first trial, August 
12th, 1837, 1 had the satisfaction of inducing magnetic sleep in 
less than five minutes, and it continued five hours. 

" When she awoke, the favorable change in her appearance 
was evident to all the family. I saw her the second day after, 
and she appeared to be much improved. She was magnetized 
again, with the same eifect as before. 

"As her place of residence is Jive miles from my own, I had an 
understanding with the husband and family that she should retire 
precisely at 9 o'clock, or before that time, in the evening, and 
I was to magnetize her as soon after as would be convenient, 
without regard to the place where 1 might be at the moment. 
My attempts to magnetize her under the above circumstances 
were perfectly successful, not only in inducing sleep, but also in 
the entire removal of all those unpleasant symptoms enumerated 
above. She is now enjoying better health than she has for the 
last four years, which blessing she and her friends attribute to 
the influence of animal magnetism. 

" Yours, respectfully, 

"THOMAS CLEVELAND. 

"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 



FROM DOCTOR CUTTER. 

"Nashua, N. H., September 19, 1837. 

"Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn: 

" Sir : Yours of the 14th came to hand three days since ; 
but, being engaged extensively in the practice of medicine, I have 
not had an opportunity to reply ere this. Although not habituated 
to writing for the public eye, yet sometimes the cause of truth 
may require our observations and experience, however limited, 
to be made public, our private feelings to the contrary not- 
withstanding. For the last four years, I have felt an interest in 
animal magnetism. For the last few months, I have been prac- 
tically engaged in its investigation. I am convinced that it is 
based upon truth, or, in other words, that it is a real science. I 
have come to this conclusion from sober reflection and observa- 



APPENDIX. 



279 



tion. As all truth is of value, and none need fear the truth 
if their conduct is right, this may be made a blessing to our 
country. 

" My attention has been directed principally to its use as a re- 
medial agent in disease. I have attempted but few of the many 
interesting experiments which may be performed upon persons in 
a magnetic sleep, except for its therapeutic power. I do not un- 
derrate them as connected with science ; but the investigation 
and treatment of disease is my business, and in this I use mag- 
netism, and deem it of much utility. Among the number that I 
have magnetized for disease, there have been more than twenty 
perfect somnambulists. Some of them excel in pointing out and 
describing disease ; and to this I have directed their attention, 
among my patients. Out of several cases of examination of 
patients by somnambulists, I will briefly relate two. 

" Sept 10, 1837, I put Miss M., a somnambulist, living in my 
family, into a magnetic sleep, for a headache, as she supposed. 
In about half an hour, Mr. Samuel F. Jenness came to my house, 
by previous appointment, accompanied by Miss Martha Dunn, 
aged twenty-four, who has been deaf and dumb for twenty-two 
years. This was caused by sickness. Health is now good ; 
formation of head apparently perfect ; intellect very good. I re- 
quested Miss M., the somnambulist, to examine Miss D. After 
a little time, the somnambulist said that there was a reddish-yel- 
low body in the brain connected with the nerve that went to the 
ear ; and that Miss D. could not hear or talk. I asked Miss M. 
if Miss D. could see ; she replied that she could. I then asked 
the somnambulist if Miss D. could smell ; and the reply was, that 
she could. The somnambulist and Miss D. had no knowledge 
of each other previous to the examination ; no person in my fami- 
ly knew of the examination previous to its taking place. Sub- 
sequently, Miss M. informed me that she knew nothing of deaf 
persons, or the cause of deafness. 

" Aug. 16, 1837, I put the same somnambulist into a mag- 
netic sleep ; and, by appointment, my respected and talented 
friend, Dr. Bartlett, mayor of Lowell, came in with his lady. I 
then sent a short distance for Mrs. Collins, who had a child about 
nine months old, which had been afflicted with incipient cataract 
in both eyes for four months. Mrs. Collins has previously had 
three children similarly diseased, who died young, with disease in 
the head. The child, being asleep, was examined by the som- 
nambulist, who soon said that there was something in the body 
of the ehild's eye that prevented its seeing well. She further 
said that this was caused by the nerves of the eye being diseased 
in the brain. I am certain, as Mrs. Collins had recently come 
into town from Lynn, that Miss M. could not have known of the 
/child's eyes being diseased previous to the examination ; and no 



280 



APPENDIX. 



person in my house knew of the examination previous to its oc- 
currence. 

"For some months I have been in the practice of using magnet- 
ism in the treatment of many diseases, among which I may name 
tic douloureux, rheumatism, cephalalgia, bronchitis, pneumonia, 
hepatitis, tonsillitis, spinal irritation, hemorrhoids, delirium tre- 
mens, ulcers, and paralysis. With the exception of three cases, 
the results have been salutary ; and in these cases no influence 
was induced by magnetism. The effects of magnetism I have 
found to be various, and yet I have noted some results which 1 
term general ; among which I may name increased activity of 
the capillary circulation, warmth and free perspiration, removal 
of pain, and somnolence. The last is not so common as the for- 
mer. I will relate a case or two of diseases, and their cure by 
magnetism. I shall relate only three, in which I am certain im- 
agination did not cause the result. 

" Eleazer Barret, aged about forty-five, for eight years past has 
been afflicted with a paralysis of the right arm. For the space 
of three years, he has been suffering from pain in the back of the 
•lead, attended with dyspnoea and cough. Some months since, 
out of curiosity, he challenged me to put him to sleep. I mag- 
netized him at his house, and produced sleep in about fifteen 
minutes. The warmth of the skin and the circulation of the 
capillary vessels were much increased, perspiration was free, and 
the paralyzed arm became warm and swelled. I repeated it four 
times. The pain in the head, neck, and chest, together with 
the dyspnoea and cough, were removed ; mobility and sensibility 
were restored to the paralyzed arm. I have obtained the same 
result in two other cases of paralysis. 

" Miss R. Mclntyre for about two years has been afflicted with 
an irritable ulcer on the ankle, the diameter of which was about 
two inches. The pain has been so smart as, much of the time, to 
prevent sleep ; and it caused much swelling of the foot. She 
made application for medical aid to many good surgeons, but re- 
ceived no benefit. June 29, 1837, Miss M. applied to me to try 
the effects of magnetism. Without attempting to produce sleep, 
I magnetized the ulcer and foot. The immediate effect was the 
cessation of the excruciating pain, a visible diminution of the 
redness around the ulcer, followed by a subsidence of the swell- 
ing. The foot, which had been for months cold, became warm. 
Without any other means being used, the ulcer rapidly healed, 
and is now entirely well. Her health has not suffered by the 
healing of the ulcer. This interesting phenomenon and fact, of 
the redness attendant on the inflammation surrounding the ulcer 
subsiding under the immediate action of magnetism, has been 
witnessed by many in this place, among whom I may name Dr 
Ebenezer Dearborn, of Nashua, and Drs, Bartlett and Kimball 3 of 
Lowell, 



APPENDIX. '{281 

« If the magnetic power, whatever it may be, immediately re- 
moves the pain, the swelling, the redness, and the heat attendant 
on the inflammatory areola of this ulcer, why will it not in the 
same manner in inflammation of the brain, lungs, stomach, liver, 
or any other organ ? Some other facts which have come under 
my notice, lead me to believe that such is the case. Facts like 
the above open an interesting field of inquiry for the philanthro- 
pist and the scientific physician. I wish that some investigating 
physician would enter this field of inquiry, and make public his 
observations for the benefit of suffering humanity. 

" I have perused with much pleasure the first number of your 
translation of the work of the venerable and philanthropic De- 
Jeuze. With pleasure I can give my testimony in favor of the 
truth of many of his statements in that work, and I presume that 
most of the statements which I have not verified are equally 
correct 

" Yours respectfully, 

« CALVIN CUTTER." 



FROM THE SAME. 

"Nashua, N. H., October 3, 1837. 
* Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn : 

" Sir : In conformity with your respectful request, I will 
now briefly detail a few observations in addition to my former 
communication. To render this agent more useful, it has ap- 
peared to me a desideratum to convince people that we could act. 
upon local and definite parts of the system, the other parts re- 
maining uninfluenced Although this requires a greater effort, 
•on the part of the magnetizer, than to affect the whole system, 
yet I have succeeded in this, in many cases, to my own satisfac- 
tion, and producing an entire conviction of the utility of magnet- 
ism in many beholders. 

" In two instances, I have succeeded in curing complete paraly- 
sis of the limbs of persons who had not been previously magnet- 
ized, and this without any somnolence ; and in these cases the 
individuals were unbelievers in magnetism. These experiments 
are important and interesting, as they show the ability which 
good magnetizers possess to act upon the diseased organs of the 
system without altering the state of the normal organs, which 
very much enhances the value of magnetism as a remedial agent 
in disease ; for it is well known to physicians that, to cure dis- 
eased organs, the medicine given often induces functional disease 
in some other organ of vital importance ; and happy is it for the 
patient, if the functional disease thus induced does not become 
organic. If we can show, by careful experiment and observation, 
that the above statement, in relation to the local effects, is true, 
certainly the remedial power of magnetism is a boon not to be 
24* 



282 APPENDIX. 

despised. As it is probable that many cases of fatal disease 
commence with only an irritation of some organ, and as probably 
this irritation is at its commencement merely an increase of the 
sensibility, inducing an influx of fluids to the part, and as the 
direct and apparently specific effect of magnetism is to lessen 
the sensibility and vascular activity of the organs, might we not 
expect relief by the use of magnetism in irritated and inflamed 
organs ? This relief I have obtained in irritated and inflamed 
brain, bronchia, lungs, liver, stomach, and limbs. I will here 
mention that the patients whom I have magnetized for the above- 
named diseased organs, make use of the same language to de- 
scribe the effects of magnetism upon them, as in case of magnetic 
paralysis of the limbs ; and the consecutive warmth and perspira- 
tion are the same in both cases. Hence I infer that the action 
of magnetism upon the important and vital organs is the same as 
upon the limbs. This is to me an interesting field of inquiry. 

" I will now detail a case or two. 

" Mrs. Ober, a respectable lady of this town, had been afflicted 
with an inveterate cutaneous disease, of about eighteen months' 
standing. This was attended with an intolerable itching, to so 
great an extent that sleep was often prevented, sometimes for 
many days and nights in succession. At the request of the fam- 
ily, and in particular of her son, Dr. Benjamin Ober, of Montville, 
Maine, I magnetized her in the month of June. This I repeated 
several times. She became a good somnambulist. To the sur- 
prise of all, the intolerable itching was removed immediately, and 
returned no more. Under the use of magnetism, the cutaneous 
eruption subsided ; but in a little time I ceased to magnetize this 
lady. In August, she died of dysentery. 

" June 9, 1837. — I was called to attend Mrs. Fern, of this vil- 
lage, as accoucheur. She had been in travail about forty-eight 
hours, and her labor pains had been somewhat irregular. She 
had obtained no sleep for three nights. At her request, and in 
presence of Mrs. Lawrence and Mrs. Weston, I magnetized her. 
She went into a magnetic sleep in less than one minute. I would 
mention that 1 had never seen Mrs. Fern previous to this evening. 
Her sleep was very quiet She slept about three hours, and then 
awoke very much refreshed. To my own surprise, and the aston- 
ishment of all present, we observed this curious and interesting 
fact and phenomenon, viz., that the specific and regular uterine 
contractions attending accouchment continued with perfect regular- 
ity. After she came out of the magnetic sleep, she was much 
refreshed, and it was apparently of benefit to her. 

" The following are the names of some of those who have been 
magnetized by me for diseases : — Eliza Barrett, Abigail Wynn, 
Mrs. Marshall, Deacon E. Barrett, Mrs. Sargent, Mrs. Ober, Flora 
Fuller, Sarah Mevens, Mary Russell, Mary M. Kean, Mrs. Ames, 
Miss Tarbell, Mrs. Adams, Rebecca Mclntyre, Miss Woodbury, 



APPENDIX. 283 

Mrs. Fern, Mrs. Smith, Samuel Lawrence, Sally Putney, Mrs. 
Shurtliff, Mrs. Frost, Mrs. Reed, Miss Noyes, Miss Brigham, Mrs. 
Merrill, Miss Phelps, Susan Hartshorn, Moses Saunders, Abigail 
Gage. Almira Cartee, Mrs. Butler, Hannah Conrey, Martha Dunn, 
Miss Adams, Miss Dustin, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Cutter-. 

" I name only those on whom the magnetic action was well 
marked. I have as yet found only two individuals who were not 
susceptible of magnetic influence. 

" A list of all who have witnessed my magnetic experiments 
would fill an entire sheet 1 will name only Drs. Bartlett and 
Kimball, of Lowell ; Dearborn, of Nashua ; Ober, of Montville, 
Maine ; Rev. Messrs. Pratt and Smith, of Nashua ; Rev. Mr. 
Porter, of Lowell ; Rev. Mr. Carpenter, of Milford ; and Rev. Mr. 
Pease, of Hudson. To this list I could add some hundred of 
other citizens. 

" Yours, 

"C. CUTTER. 

" P. S. Write me relative to the third number soon, as I am 
having new and interesting cases daily, some of which I would 
communicate if desired. Use any part of the above you please." 



FROM DOCTOR CAPRON. 

"Providence. October 10, 1837. 

" Dear Sir : As you have requested that, should any thing 
interesting occur in my practice in reference to the subject of 
animal magnetism generally, and especially when remedially 
employed, I would communicate the same to append to the second 
part of the work you are publishing, I have hastily drawn up the 
following statement of a few cases which have fallen under my 
observation. Should you consider them of sufficient interest to 
enhance the value of your publication, you are at liberty to use 
them. 

"It is not pretended that magnetism has acted as a specific in 
any of these cases ; but that it was a valuable auxiliary in the 
treatment of them, and that it may be employed as such in the 
treatment of diseases generally, does not, in my mind, admit of a 
doubt. 

" Case first. — On the evening of the 25th of last month, 1 was 
requested to visit Mrs. L., in High Street, who, on the previous 
morning, had had a severe paroxysm of the fever and ague. 
Upon inquiry, I found that she Avas attacked by this disease in its 
usual form the fore part of August, soon after returning from a 
journey in the western country. She immediately put herself 
under the care of skilful physicians, and followed their prescrip- 



284 APPENDIX. 

tions about two weeks ; but the progress of the disease was not 
arrested, medicine in this case not having its usual beneficial 
effects. She was advised by one of her physicians to have re- 
course to magnetism, and Mr. P. was sent for to magnetize her. 
Having magnetized her once to establish the communication, he 
commenced the second operation as the cold stage of the parox- 
ysm was beginning. In about twenty minutes, the patient began 
to feel more comfortable ; in thirty, the cold stage had entirely 
passed off, and was succeeded by an agreeable glow of heat 
The paroxysm, in this instance, was very much shortened in all 
its stages, and she was soon materially improved, though she took 
but little medicine after this time. 

" Mr. L., her husband, seeing the beneficial effect of these two 
operations, was induced to continue the treatment himself, by 
magnetizing her daily, and on some days several times. While 
this was continued, she had no return of the disease ; but Mr. L.'s 
business calling him again to the west, the treatment was discon- 
tinued, and in about three weeks she had a relapse of it in a more 
severe form. The fever was of the tertian type, the paroxysms 
returning every third day, and constantly increasing in severity, 
except an interruption of three or four days. 

" When I first saw her, about ten o'clock in the evening, she 
was suffering from a violent headache. For several hours pre- 
vious, she had been delirious, from the intensity of the fever. 
Understanding that magnetism had been of service to her on a 
former occasion, I thought it proper to make a trial of it, and was 
gratified with the success of the experiment. Her headache 
was cured in a few minutes ; she became tranquil ; the fever in 
some measure subsided ; and in a short time I left her compara- 
tively very comfortable. 

" The following day, though somewhat more comfortable, her 
state did not differ materially from what it had usually been on 
the days when she had been exempt from fever. I called on the 
third day, at the hour when the paroxysm was expected to return. 
The cold stage had begun. The hands and feet were cold, and 
purple under the nails ; the surface generally, and especially the 
nose, was cold and contracted. The shaking had not yet com- 
menced. 

" Being anxious to put in requisition all the means in my power 
to arrest the paroxysm, I gave a dose of Dover's powder, and 
immediately began to magnetize her. During the first twenty 
minutes, there was occasionally a shudder from the cold, when 
she began to feel warm and comfortable ; and, in a few minutes 
more, the cold stage had entirely subsided, instead of lasting two 
or three hours, as it had previously done. The Dover's powder 
produced slight sickness at the stomach, and she vomited once 
moderately. The succeeding hot and sweating stages were al- 
most entirely prevented, and she was as free from fever and dis- 



APPENDIX. 285 

tress when I left her, an hour after my arrival, as she had usually- 
been on the days of the intermission. 

" It must be admitted that the medicine given in this instance 
probably had some agency in arresting the disease ; but if we 
recollect that, when Mr. P. magnetized her, the same effects pre- 
cisely were produced, although she took no medicine at that time, 
and that, notwithstanding she left off taking medicine entirely, 
the paroxysms did not return as long as she continued that treat- 
ment, it must certainly be admitted that magnetism was the most 
efficient agent employed. It is now thirteen days since I was 
called to her, and she has had no recurrence of the paroxysms 
except the one I have mentioned. Magnetism has not been 
trusted to alone in this case, though it has frequently been prac- 
tised, particularly for the headache, to which she has been 
subject, and which it has never failed to relieve in a very few 
minutes. 

" Though Mrs. L. has never been somnambulic, she has been 
generally put into a magnetic sleep, which has been very sooth- 
ing and restorative. She is now nearly free from disease. 

" Case second. — The second case which I shall mention where 
magnetism has been employed to advantage, is that of Mrs. C. 
This Avas a case of the most violent distress in the head, depend- 
ent upon a relapse of fever, which partook of the irritative rather 
than of the inflammatory or typhoid character. This affection of 
the head, which was somewhat different from the common head- 
ache, returned with great severity every afternoon. The usual 
remedies, though perseveringly employed for four or five days, 
had failed to give much relief. My success in the case of Mrs. 
L. suggested to me the propriety of trying magnetism in this, and 
I accordingly proposed it. At this proposition, Mrs. C. smiled 
with a look of incredulity, having never had the least confidence 
in the existence of such an agent. She consented, however, to 
make a trial of it. In five minutes, her head was relieved, and, 
at the end of twelve or fifteen, was quite free from distress. It 
did not return again that afternoon. She has since been mag- 
netized several times, with a similar result. 

" In this case, it was not carried so far as to produce sleep, 
though there is no doubt that this effect would have been pro- 
duced, had the operation been continued long. Mrs. C. has now 
no doubt of the magnetic influence. 

" Case third. — In December last, I was requested to visit Miss 
M., a young lady who had for nearly two years been subject to 
epileptic fits.* During the first year, she had only three or four ; 
but, during the second, they had become more frequent, so that 

* See Note XXIIL, for another case of epilepsy. 



286 APPENDIX. 

she had had three within the two weeks immediately preceding 
my first visit. She was put upon such a course of medicine and 
measures as are usually prescribed in such cases ; but with only 
partial success, as she continued to have a fit every two months 
until May. 

" A trial was now made of magnetism, and medicines were 
almost wholly discontinued. She was occasionally magnetized 
for six weeks, at first by myself, and afterwards by another gen- 
tleman. The whole number of sittings may have been twelve 
or fifteen. While this treatment was continued, and for three 
months afterwards, she had no recurrence of the fits. Two weeks 
ago, however, she had a return of the disease. 

" Sleep was not induced in this patient, though the magnetic 
influence was very apparent. The young lady herself is fully 
sensible of the benefit derived from it ; and, had the treatment 
been persevered in, I am persuaded a recurrence would have 
been prevented. 

" Case fourth. — The next case I shall mention is that of Miss 
O., who, if I mistake not, was the first somnambulist in this city. 
This young lady, who had been in delicate health for four years, 
was afflicted with a most distressing spasmodic cough, recurring 
periodically every evening. Most of the articles of the materia 
medica had been employed for this cough, without the least bene- 
fit, but magnetism never failed to silence it in a very short time ; 
on some occasions, in less than two minutes, as was witnessed by 
a considerable number of the physicians of this place. 

* Case fifth. — Some time in the course of the last spring, I 
was called upon to go and extract some teeth for a lady, who had 
been for a number of weeks tormented with that worst of all 
torments, the teethache. It was her desire to be put into the 
magnetic state, that she might not be sensible of the pain of ex- 
tracting. To gratify her, I made the experiment, with little 
confidence of success, I acknowledge. I continued the process 
about half an hour without producing sleep. Being fatigued, I 
discontinued it, and advised her to have them extracted in the 
waking state ; but, to my surprise, her teeth were so effectually 
relieved from the pain, that she considered the operation of ex- 
tracting unnecessary. 

" Three months afterwards, she informed me that she had had 
no return of this troublesome affection. 

" Case sixth. — While visiting a patient in the westerly part of 
the city a few weeks since, Mrs. J., a lady apparently in delicate 
health, came into the room, who, as I was informed, had been 
magnetized, and manifested several of the phenomena of somnam- 
bulism. After having some conversation with her, 1 was anxious 



APPENDIX. 287 

to see the character of her somnambulism, and she consented to 
let me magnetize her I put her into a state of somnambulism in 
a very short time, not exceeding fifteen minutes. Considering 
that she had been magnetized only once in several months, and 
then by a different person from the one who first put her asleep, 
I found her powers somewhat extraordinary. In the evening of 
the following day, I was called upon to prescribe for this lady in 
a case of violent pains of a spasmodic character in the stomach 
and bowels. I gave her immediately a dose of anodyne medi- 
cine, and, knowing the influence magnetism had had upon her, I 
thought it proper to try it. About ten or twelve minutes after I 
commenced the manipulations, she was entirely free from pain, 
though not asleep. 

" I left her at the end of half an hour, with directions to repeat 
the same kind of medicine she had already taken, should the pain 
return. She afterwards informed me that it did return soon after 
I left, and that several doses of the medicine were taken, with 
only partial success. Had the relief, in the first instance, been 
wholly dependent upon the anodyne, it is rational to suppose that 
the operation of the succeeding doses would have been more 
prompt than that of the first, as the anodyne was accumulating 
upon the system. 

" It is proper to observe, in this place, that this lady subsequent- 
ly informed me that, on the evening when I first magnetized her, 
she was threatened with the indisposition for which I was after- 
wards called to prescribe, and experienced an alleviation, though 
she did not mention it at the time. 

" After receiving your note, I called upon this patient to learn 
the particulars of her case previous to my seeing her. And she 
informed me that some time in the latter part of March, or the 
first of April last, she was magnetized by Mr. H., of Brown Uni- 
versity. She did not believe in magnetism, and submitted to it 
rather to convince the gentleman, who was an advocate of it, of 
his error, than from the expectation of receiving any benefit from 
it ; but, to her very agreeable surprise, after these few experi- 
ments, she found herself nearly cured of an inveterate palpitation 
which had for several years rendered her life miserable and ap- 
parently precarious. So severe indeed was this affection, that 
she had not, for a year or more, been able to ascend a flight of 
stairs, or walk an eighth of a mile, without stopping to recover 
from the agony occasioned by the exertion. 

" It is now six months since she was first magnetized, during 
which time she has been entirely free from the complaint, with 
the exception of a few slight attacks within the last six or eight 
weeks. 

" Case seventh. — The 20th of September, 1 received a message 
to visit Mr. D., a gentleman who has a painful affection of the hip 



288 APPENDIX. 

and back. Having-, a number of times, been relieved from his 
excruciating sufferings by being magnetized by Mr. P., he was 
desirous of continuing this treatment, with the hope not only of 
relief, but of a permanent cure. 

" Upon examination, I found his disease to be one not likely to 
be cured by magnetism alone, and advised him to an efficient sur- 
gical course of treatment. I, however, magnetized him a number 
of times, and always with some mitigation of his sufferings. He 
was not put into a sound magnetic sleep r but the influence was 
certain. 

" Case eighth. — 1 magnetized a young lady for a distressing 
affection of the whole nervous system, attended with erratic pains 
in the head and eyes, wakefulness, and disturbed and unrefresh- 
ing slumbers. The optic nerves participated in this affection to 
such a degree that she apprehended a total loss of vision. She 
was frequently annoyed by the appearance of dark motes floating 
before her eyes, and other ocular spectra, as is frequently ob- 
served in cases of incipient amaurosis. The number of sittings 
was twelve ; and the benefit to her general health was unequiv- 
ocal. Her nervous system was soothed and strengthened, and 
her slumbers became calm and restorative. The effects of mag- 
netism in this case were somewhat peculiar; for, though her 
physical system was completely under its influence, her mental 
faculties continued wakeful, and her senses were unusually 
acute. When apparently in a sleeping state, she was perfectly 
conscious of her situation, which is not usual in somnambulism, ' 
or in ordinary sleep. 

" This case is reported to show the influence exerted by mag- 
netism upon the system generally, and especially in affections of 
the nerves. 

" Case ninth. — In answer to an inquiry in your note of the 8th 
instant, respecting the health of Miss Brackett, it gives me much 
pleasure to inform you that, notwithstanding an alarming general 
indisposition of two or three weeks' continuance, her vision is still 
improving. She believes herself capable of walking the streets 
safely without a guide ; she can judge of the comparative size 
of even small objects, and readily distinguish colors when there 
is a strong contrast. 

" Her present indisposition has proceeded from an accidental 
cause. It has been of a highly inflammatory nature, and, when 
she was in a waking state, attended with great pain and suffer- 
ing. Under these circumstances, magnetism has been invaluable 
to her, as it has never failed to render her insensible to suffering, 
and has wholly superseded the disagreeable necessity of giving 
opiates. She is now convalescent, and we hope soon to see her, 
not only in the enjoyment of good general health, but in the full 



APPENDIX. l&Si3 

possession of that most useful as well as delightful of our senses, 
— vision. 

" The subjects of all the above cases are respectable and intel- 
ligent persons, living in this city ; and most of them may be re- 
ferred to, should any one have a particular interest in obtaining 
further information in relation to them. 

" With much respect, 

«G. CAPRON, 
"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 



NOTE XXVI. — Pages 75—88. 

Deleuze remarks, in the chapter on somnambulism, that " Som- 
nambulists whose interior faculties have acquired great energy, 
are often found in a frame of mind of which you might avail 
yourself advantageously to make them follow a course of regi- 
men, or do things useful to them, but contrary to their inclina- 
tions. The magnetizer can, after it has been mutually agreed 
upon, impress upon them, while in the somnambulic state, an 
idea or a determination which will influence them in the natural 
state, without their knowing the cause." He then gives in- 
stances to show in what cases this influence may be exerted. 
Following up this intimation, the author of the following letter, 
who is acquainted with this work in the original, has arrived at. 
some important results in verification of what Deleuze and other 
writers have stated in reference to this curious branch of the 
subject 



FROM DOCTOR ROBBINS. 

" Uxbridge. October 3, 1837. 
" Dear Sir : I had the pleasure, some days ago, of receiving a 
copy of the first part of your work, and the accompanying letter. 
I am particularly pleased with the execution and the whole char- 
acter of this specimen of the performance. I feel that, when com- 
pleted, it will render the subject strong in ample evidence both of 
its power and its utility. You are at liberty to publish the sub- 
joined article, if it meets your purpose. 

" Yours, respectfully, 

"J. W. ROBBINS. 
"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 
25 



290 APPENDIX. 



CORRECTION OF THE HABITS OF SOMNAMBULISTS. 

The influence which the magnetizer, with the consent of the 
somnambulist, is able, through his somnambulism, to exert upon 
his waking state, may be readily proved by a variety of experi- 
ments of pure curiosity ; but the magnetizer should seldom in- 
dulge in such kind of experimenting. This power may, however, 
be frequently rendered highly useful in the correction of habits — 
and those not only bodily, but mental. The following instances 
where the writer has, with some success, employed this influence 
for the benefit of his patients, may serve as illustrations of this 
power, and may induce magnetizers to have recourse, in all simi- 
lar cases, to its exercise. 

One individual, of a highly-nervous temperament, and much 
affected with dyspepsia, had at times a craving almost irresistible 
for certain fruits and aliments, which were sure to distress her 
stomach and aggravate her nervous symptoms. Having, upon my 
first essay of magnetism, with great facility induced somnambu- 
lism, I resolved to make trial of this power, with little confidence, 
however, in the success of the attempt, impossible as it had been 
to restrain her in the use of those articles. I accordingly en- 
joined upon her, in the most impressive manner, not to indulge 
herself in their use. The day following, having procured an 
apple, she wished to eat it, but found herself under the control of 
a mysterious influence, which rendered it morally impossible. It 
seemed to her that a person told her, while asleep, not to eat such 
things; "And," said she, "I do not think I shall be able to eat 
one all summer." 

I soon found that I had not included in my prohibition one 
important item, namely, tea — in the use of which she had for 
years been in the practice of freely indulging, and which I be- 
lieved to exert so unfavorable an influence upon her nerves, that 
I had for a long time employed every means to induce her to 
abandon it, but without success. I therefore issued the order; 
and, as every law has usually its appropriate penalty, I annexed 
it, as follows, namely, that the use of the smallest quantity should 
be followed by nausea. The experiment was perfectly success- 
ful, all succeeding attempts to take tea being followed by dis- 
I tressing sickness. As long as she remained in the family where 
she then was, she continued unable to take either tea or the 
interdicted articles of food. I was, two months afterwards, in- 
formed that those habits remained corrected, and it is to be hoped 
that they are permanently cured. 

Another somnambulist I had observed to have the habit of con- 
veying air into the stomach in the act of swallowing. Suspecting 
that the practice tended to increase the distress which she some- 
times experienced at the stomach, I directed her to swallow no 



APPENDIX. 291 

more air, or, if she did so, that she should be seized with a pain 
in the throat. This pain was actually observed, by the inmates 
of the family where she was boarding-, to seize her twice on the 
day following ; and she afterwards informed me, in somnambu- 
lism, that she believed she was getting cured of the habit 

A third patient had long indulged freely in the use of tea and 
coffee, and they had become, as she supposed, absolutely neces- 
sary to enable her to continue her labor. Endowed, as she was 
in her somnambulism, with the faculty of prevision of a character 
almost perfect in regard to the exacerbations of her own disease, 
and the effects which were to result from different agents, I de- 
sired her to examine the influence of tea and coffee upon her sys- 
tem. The result of her examination was an acknowledgement 
of their bad effect, and her consent that I should break her of the 
habit of using them. I accordingly issued the prohibition, ac- 
companied with the penalty that they should taste unpleasantly, 
and be followed by nausea. The next day, to her utter astonish- 
ment,(for she retained, while awake, no trace of what had occurred 
in her somnambulism,) both her tea and coffee were not only 
offensive to her taste, but the forced introduction of small quan- 
tities into the stomach, from the conviction that she could not do 
without them, was followed by distressing sickness of considera- 
ble duration. The various attempts which she has at intervals 
made to take them have for months been followed by the same 
results. 

A similar course was subsequently pursued in regard to snuff. 
She had long been in the habit of using this article in considera- 
ble quantities. The result of her examination of it during her 
somnambulism was, that it was decidedly prejudicial, but that its 
use ought not to be at once abandoned. She accordingly con- 
sented that I should restrict her to the use of six pinches daily. 
I did so, adding the injunction that whatever she should take 
beyond the prescribed number should seem extremely nauseous 
and offensive. She assented, but went on, for some time after 
waking, in its use as before. At length, after taking a pinch, the 
sudden contortions of her countenance, and her strong exclama- 
tions of loathing and disgust, plainly indicated what had occurred. 
She had unwittingly transgressed her limits ; she had taken the 
prohibited pinch, and could take no more during the day. The 
following day, she could take it ; but her passion for it daily di- 
minished, as she was several times dreadfully annoyed by the 
seventh pinch. The habit was thus entirely broken, and but a 
trifle in comparison has been used in several months. She attrib- 
uted the effect to the constant use of magnetized water. 

From the following example, we should be led to suppose that 
certain habits and weaknesses, more especially mental, might be 
corrected by the same means, which, unfortunately, are applica- 
ble only to somnambulists.. One of my patients had always been 



292 APPENDIX. 

unable to see any one in convulsions, or in great distress, or to 
assist in rendering the necessary attention to a corpse. If obliged 
to be present upon such occasions, the effect, both upon her mind 
and body, was severe and distressing. She told me, in her som- 
nambulism, that she had exerted herself strongly to overcome this 
weakness, which was a source of much mortification and incon- 
venience to her, but without success, and she begged me to assist 
her. I accordingly pursued, in this instance, the same course as 
before. Apparently assured now, in her own mind, of the cure of 
her failing, she thanked me in the most grateful terms ; and, al- 
though totally ignorant, while awake, of what had occurred in her 
somnambulism, she assisted at the next preparation for a funeral 
without any exhibition whatever of her former weakness. 

These facts, like others appertaining to animal magnetism, will 
doubtless appear of a very extraordinary character, and fail to 
gain the credence of those who have not examined the subject in 
the true spirit of philosophic investigation ; but they are confirmed 
by many writers on the subject. A work entitled " Cures effected 
in France by Animal Magnetism," details various similar facts. 
To those who wish to apply the science to use, these facts may 
serve to furnish hints which may lead to highly-useful results, 
It would give the writer pleasure to exhibit the evidence of these 
or any other facts of interest in his possession to such as may 
wish candidly to investigate the subject 



NOTE XXVIL — Page 89. 

Insensibility to Pain. — The following letter from Dr. 
Esten, surgeon dentist, of this city, gives the particulars of ope- 
rations performed by him while the patient was in the somnam- 
bulic state. 

"Providence, October 4, 1837. 

"Dear Sir: I cheerfully comply with your request. Some 
time during the last summer, I was informed by Dr. Brownell 
that one of his patients was at his house in the magnetic sleep, 
and was invited to call and see her. I accepted the invitation^ 
and found the lady sleeping. After some curious experiments, 
she was aAvakened. She requested me to examine her teeth, 
which she said she had unfortunately broken off by a fall, and 
expressed a desire to have some new ones inserted. Upon ex- 
amination, I found her teeth badJy decayed and broken, and 
informed her that it would be necessary to have the roots of 
some of the broken teeth extracted, and others cut off to a level 
with the gums, before she could have artificial ones inserted. It 
was accordingly agreed that, on some suitable occasion, it should 



APPENDIX. 293 

be done, while she was asleep. Several weeks after, I was again 
called in by Dr. B., and found the lady sleeping very comfortably 
in an easy chair. I immediately extracted the roots of four front 
teeth, which had been broken off, without awaking her, or even 
disturbing her repose. The case was rather a severe one, as the 
teeth were broken down so low that I could not take hold of 
them with a pair of forceps, and was obliged to take them out 
with a hook which I use for such a purpose. On examining 
them about a week after, I found it to be necessary to remove 
one more. She was put asleep, and I extracted the tooth. She 
appeared not to know what I was doing, and manifested no signs 
of pain. She did not on this, or on the former occasion, spit the 
blood from her mouth. It was removed by a towel, the corner of 
which was laid in her mouth. After I had extracted this last tooth, 
Dr. B. asked her whether it hurt her. She replied by saying, ' Does 
what hurt ? ' She afterwards came to my office with Dr. B., and, 
after being magnetized, had the two central incisors cut off to a 
level with the gums, and holes were drilled into the roots of them, 
preparatory to inserting artificial ones. She afterwards had seven 
artificial teeth inserted. The operation was not all performed at 
one time, but at two or three different sittings. Every part of 
the work usually attended with any pain was done while she was 
asleep; and, according to all appearances, and her own testi- 
mony, she was not sensible of any pain. She was several times 
asked by Dr. Brownell, during the most painful part of the ope- 
ration, if it hurt her ; she always replied by saying, ' Does what 
hvrtV 

«W. T. ESTEN. 
"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 



The readers of the " Boston Medical and Surgical Journal " will 
remember a similar case detailed at length by Dr. Benjamin H. 
West, in the twenty-second number of the fourteenth volume of 
that valuable work. The operation was performed by Dr. Har- 
wood, surgeon dentist, on an epileptic patient of Monsieur Bugard, 
an accomplished French teacher of that city, in the presence of 
Professor Treadwell, of Harvard University, Drs. Ware, Lewis, 
Lodge, A. D. Parker, Esq., and Messrs. Ware and West, med- 
ical students. The latter gentleman, the writer of the article, 
had previously extracted a molar tooth from the same patient, 
who was a girl of nearly thirteen years old, without producing 
the slightest indication of feeling on her part. 

The Taunton Whig, of September 13th, gives an account of a 
similar operation, by Dr. Nahum Washburn, upon an intelligent 
young gentleman, now a medical student of that town. The 
character of the witnesses who are named precludes the possibil- 
ity of a doubt in regard to the literal correctness of the relation. 
25* 



294 APPENDIX, 

It is somewhat singular that in Taunton almost all the somnam- 
bulists are men. 

"A gentleman who had a carious tooth was desirous of having 
it extracted while under the magnetic influence, and seated him- 
self for that purpose. He was put into a state of perfect mag- 
netic sleep in the course of five minutes, at a distance of eight 
feet, by a friend who had magnetized him many times before. 
In that state, he remarked that the room was too light, and a silk 
handkerchief was therefore bound over his already closed eye- 
lids. Being then asked if he wished to have his tooth extracted, 
he answered that he did. After a lapse of a few minutes, the 
magnetizer, standing at a distance, willed him to open his mouthy 
which he did, asking, at the same time, if it was wide enough. 

" The magnetizer then retired to an adjoining room, and the 
operation was performed during his absence.* I was near the 
patient, watched him closely, and did not observe any sign of 
suffering. There was not the slightest contraction of a muscle, 
either of his face or limbs, during the operation ; no change of 
the countenance, or of the respiration. His whole body remained 
as perfectly composed as in the most quiet natural sleep. A 
bowl was placed under his chin, but he made no effort to free his 
mouth from the blood which flowed out between his lips, until 
the magnetizer returned, and willed him to do so. 

"He inquired 'what made him spit so much;' and shortly 
after complained of the ' stuff running down his throat.' Being 
asked what it was, he replied, after tasting, that he 'did not 
know.' 

" He was permitted to sleep a few minutes more, when the 
magnetizer went into an adjoining room, and willed him to awake 
in ten minutes. Ir\ precisely that time, there was a considerable 
movement of the eyelids. The sleep continued three minutes 
longer. 

"Soon after awaking, he observed the bowl containing the 

* Dr. Cleveland, of Pawtuxet, mentioned to the translator a curious 
fact, which fully agrees with what has been asserted in a previous note, 
namely, the somnambulist always appears to know what his magnetizer is 
doing. 

Having put one of his patients into the somnambulic state, for the pur- 
pose of performing a slight surgical operation, he found that he could 
not do it himself, because the patient, though insensible to the touch o r 
others, exhibited towards himself a perfect consciousness and sensibility 
which he could not annihilate long enough to continue the operation. 
The moment his mind was fixed upon the object, it was withdrawn from 
the exertion of the will, so that consciousness and sensation instantly 
returned to baffle his purpose. It may be further observed that, in Clo- 
quet's excision of a cancerated ulcer, mentioned in part first, the patient 
was magnetized by another person. If this should be discovered to be a 
general principle, we shall see one more reason for Deleuze's instruction? 
to keep the intention well sustained. 



APPENDIX. 295 

blood in a chair by his side, and, immediately placing his finger 
upon the cavity, asked, with the appearance of great surprise, if 
his tooth had been extracted. He declared that he was not until 
then aware that the operation had been performed. 

"The tooth was a large one, had two stout fangs, and came 
out unusually hard. It was one of the molar teeth of the un- 
der jaw. 

"I have shown this communication to Messrs. C. R. Atwood, 
Hiram M. Barney, Samuel C. West, Horatio Gilbert, Francis S. 
Munroe, and Jonathan Hodges, who were present, and to Dr. 
Nahum Washburn, who operated, and have their authority to 
state that it is an accurate recital of the incidents of the scene. 

«G." 



NOTE XXVIII. — Page 76. 

Distant Clairvoyance. — The following letters are inserted 
for the purpose of gratifying a rational curiosity in regard to the 
wayfarings of the spirit in somnambulism. Others will appear 
in the third part. They are from gentlemen who are well known 
in this quarter, and their authority is second to none which can 
be produced. The reflecting mind will find in them enough to 
excite activity of thought, and the most sensual enough to be 
kindled into a spiritual flame, though it flicker and be temporary 
in its rising. That the human spirit hath power to leave the 
body, and take cognisance of things distant in space, is but an 
elementary truth in this branch of psychology. He who cannot 

frasp the evidence on which it rests, with a firm hold, will find 
imself constantly vacillating between belief and incontinence 
of faith; but he who has once weighed it, and suffered the con- 
viction to produce its legitimate effect, will find his notions of 
things to cohie quickened and informed, and be happy in the 
consciousness of immortality. For, if we are convinced that the 
spirit can be absent, or partially absent, from the body, and, while 
deriving little or no sensation from it, be engaged in real scenes 
in other climes, we are furnished with the aliment which strength- 
ens our conceptions of a separate spiritual existence, so that the 
doctrine of a future state appears to be consequent upon our na- 
ture, if not susceptible of direct proof. 



FROM E. L. FROTHINGHAM, ESQ. 

"Boston, October 3, 1837, 
" Dear Sir : 1 have just received your note of the 30th ult* ? 
containing a request that I would send to you some account of 



296 APPENDIX. 

my experience in animal magnetism, while on a visit to Provi- 
dence in August last. You are perfectly welcome to all my ex- 
perience, and should be still more welcome were it of greater 
importance. The facts which I have to state are more general 
in their character, and of course less satisfactory, in some re- 
spects, than they would have been had I not been so limited in 
time. On this account, they may not be thought of sufficient 
importance to require their publicity, as many others may be 
furnished, if 1 may judge from what I have heard related by oth- 
ers, which are much more circumstantial, and therefore more 
generally interesting. 

" Hearing from many sources of the wonders of animal mag- 
netism previous to my visit to Providence, and being anxious to 
satisfy myself of the real or visionary character of these phenom- 
ena, on my arrival there I obtained an introduction to Dr. Capron, 
who, upon being made acquainted with my wishes, very politely 
expressed a willingness to gratify my curiosity, and appointed a 
meeting for this purpose on the afternoon of the next day. At 
the time appointed, I was introduced to Miss Brackett, the inter- 
esting young woman whose case you have laid before the public. 
After the process of magnetizing had been completed, she, at the 
request of Dr. Capron, rose from her chair, to which she had been 
previously led in a helpless state, walked through the room witli 
the greatest confidence, avoiding the chairs which stood in her 
way, and passed into the next room. In a few moments, she re- 
turned, equipped for a walk, and, accompanied by one of the fam- 
ily, but without any assistance, passed rapidly down a flight of 
stone steps into the street, and disappeared. The change from 
sightless helplessness to clear-sighted confidence was remarkably 
striking. In a few moments, we followed, and, on stopping at the 
house where she had been directed to go, we found this blind 
young lady, now endowed with more than natural sight, running 
through the house like a young girl let loose from school on a 
holyday, and examining pictures in a very novel manner, by 
placing her back towards them. 

" After being seated, she, at the request of Dr. Capron, agreed 
to accompany him to Boston; for, being a stranger to her, and 
unaccustomed to such odd ways of travelling, I did not feel my- 
self competent to take charge of her. The journey to Boston 
was accomplished in about one minute, passing, as she said, 
through the air, on a line with the railroad. On arriving at the 
depot in Boston, she was directed through several streets, com- 
plaining, all the while, of being jostled by the crowd, to my res- 
idence. She described correctly the external appearance of the 
house, and, upon entering, three members of my family, in a very 
particular and correct manner, even some particular points of 
dress quite unusual, which, upon my return to Boston, I found to 
have been correct I also ascertained that the individuals of the 



APPENDIX. 



297 



family not described by her were absent at that time. From 
some cause, however, nothing more could be extracted from her, 
the answer to all questions being, ' You can see them as well as I.' 
As she appeared to be so uncommunicative, a second meeting was 
appointed to take place on the evening of the following day, 
which I attended with a friend, Mr. Nathaniel W. Brown, of 
your city, being the only individuals present at this experiment, 
excepting the members of the family. 

" Miss Brackett appeared to be in the magnetic sleep when 
we arrived. In a few moments after, Dr. Capron, having other 
engagements for the evening, left the house, placing Mr. B. and 
myself in communication with Miss Brackett, and directing her 
to wake at half past 9 o'clock. As some time was consumed 
in visiting Mr. B.'s house, which resulted very satisfactorily to 
him, there was something less than an hour left at my disposal 
previous to the time set for the termination of her sleep. This, 
you must be aware, was altogether insufficient for a full experi- 
ment, as it is impossible, in these cases, to hurry any thing ; and 
this, joined to that unwillingness to describe formerly alluded to, 
renders the facts obtained less particular and numerous than 1 
wished. However, although not fruitful in particulars, this ex- 
periment may be found to illustrate some 'principles in the most 
striking manner ; and this, after all, is the principal object 

"The same process was employed in accomplishing the jour- 
ney to my house in Boston, as before, and her description of its 
external appearance was in the same words. 

" Upon entering the house, she described a painted carpet, and 
a very peculiar table, which were in the entry. As she said 
there was no individual in the lower part of the house, I invited 
her up stairs into the parlor. In this room, without any leading 
questions being put to her, she described many of the principal 
articles of furniture, ornaments, and pictures, in the order in 
which they are placed in the room, and in such a manner that 
each article was immediately recognized by me, although her 
descriptions were general. 

" Upon entering the room, I asked her to tell me what there 
was in it that pleased her. She immediately commenced de- 
scribing a figure with her hand, as if passing over a solid, smooth 
substance. 'What are you looking at?' 'Why, this portrait' 
' What kind of a portrait is it ? ' ' Why, it is white : how smooth 
it is ! ' ' How heavy is it ? ' ' It is very heavy. I should think 
it was marble.' ' What kind of a shelf does it stand upon ? ' 'It 
does not stand upon any shelf; but on a projection from the fire- 
place.' This was her description of a marble bust, weighing not 
far from one hundred weight, standing upon a Doric stove which 
projects into the room. She distinguished differences of size, 
figure, weight, color, and surface, (as smooth or rough,) in the 
articles which she described ; and, although many things were 



298 APPENDIX. 

omitted, and some only partially indicated, not the slightest mis- 
take was made, although many attempts were made to mislead her. 
The subject of two pictures, which she very obstinately refused 
to give me a description of, she very readily described to me 
when she awoke. In this room she recognised my daughter, and 
said she had seen her before, but could find no other person in 
the house. I then asked her to pass into the chamber, and look 
for the children. After a moment's pause, she stooped over, and 
turned her hand, as if turning down the clothes of a bed", and 
said there was a child asleep ; but that his head was entirely 
covered with clothes. At this she seemed quite disturbed. She 
said the child was very uncomfortable, and that 'it was not 
healthy to be so covered up.' 

" As there was now very little time to spare, I said, ' Let us go 
down stairs ; perhaps we shall now be able to find the rest of the 
family.' In a moment she said, ' Good evening.' On asking her 
whom she saw in the room below, she described three individuals, 
two of whom she recognised as having seen the day before, and 
the other as an elderly Quaker lady, whose very peculiar dress 
she described with the greatest accuracy, and with considerable 
humor. This was the close of my experiment, as the time fixed 
by Dr. Capron for her to awake was near at hand ; and I hastened 
to conduct her back to Providence. I arrived at the end of my 
imaginary journey just as the time expired, at which moment 
she awoke. On my return home, I ascertained that all her 
descriptions relaxing to the individuals of my family were perfectly 
correct. 

"At the time of our supposed visit, my daughter was alone in 
the house, — with the exception of the children, who were in bed, 
— and sitting in the room where she was described to be. The 
other three members of the family did return about the time at 
which our experiments concluded, and were in the lower room, 
as described by Miss Brackett. Furthermore, Mrs. F., on visiting 
the little boy on her return, found him in precisely the uncom- 
fortable situation which so much distressed the sympathetic invis- 
ible visitant. 

" You will excuse me from making any observations or offering* 
any opinion upon these remarkable phenomena. As facts, you 
are perfectly welcome to them, and to make what use of them 
you please ; being satisfied that all remarkable facts, but particu- 
larly those of a character not referable to any known principle, 
should be made public. 

" Yours, truly, 

"E. L. FROTHINGHAM. 

"Mr.T.C. Hartshorn." 



APPENDIX. 299 

FROM MONSIEUR B. F. BUGARD. 

"Boston, October 10, 1837. 

"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn: 

" Dear Sir : I do not delay a moment to answer yours of the 
7th inst At another time, you shall hear from me again; at 
present, 1 will relate a fact about a somnambulist. 

" About three months ago, I went to the house of Mr. L., to 
spend an evening. I found him and his lady at home, and with 
them their son A., Mrs. C, a French lady, and Mr. G., a friend of 
mine. Mrs. C. not feeling very well, one of the company sug- 
gested to me that I ought to magnetize her. Having offered my 
services to relieve her in that way, she accepted the offer. I put 
her asleep in less than five minutes. As it generally, though not 
always, happens in such cases, she answered all my questions. 

" This lady has come to this country with her husband, leaving 
m Paris her mother and three children. After a little conversa- 
tion, during which she drank some tea, I sent her home to Paris, 
to look after her family there. She answered a question in rela- 
tion to their health, by saying that her eldest daughter was not 
well, but was affected with sore eyes ; that a certain physician 
was in attendance, whom she named distinctly, but whose name 
is at this moment out of my memory ; that her second daughter 
had a cold, and that her little son was perfectly well. 

" Upon asking her whether her mother had attended church 
during the day, it being Sunday, she replied that she attended in 
the morning, but not in the afternoon. On being requested to 
look at the clock, and tell the time, she replied, without hesitation, 
; 4 o'clock ; ' and on making the calculation myself, / found 
her to he correct.* 

" I soon after awoke her by the mere exertion of my will. She 
was not aware of having taken any tea, and although she put the 
question to every one in turn whether she had taken any, she 
remained unconvinced of what she had actually done. 

" About five or six weeks after this experiment, Mrs. C. re- 
ceived a letter from her mother, corifirming every particular she 
had said concerning her children. 

" I would observe that, when awake, I asked her what o'clock 
she thought it then was at Paris. She was obliged to calculate, 
and, in giving the answer, she was far from being positive. If any 
one desires to know who these persons are, whose initials only are 
given, I shall at any time be ready to give them, together with 
such additional proof as may be wanted. 

" I am your obedient servant, 

"B.F. BUGARD." 

* I have tried this experiment by sending several somnambulists far to 
the west. The result showed a correspondence between the time and 
the longitude, though the signification of the latter word was unknown to 
two of them. — Trans. 



300 APPENDIX. 

FROM REVEREND E. B. HALL. 

" Providence, December 1, 1837. 
"To Mr. T. C. Hartshorn : 

" Dear Sir : You wish me to write you something about my 
experience and opinions on the subject of animal magnetism. I 
have been unwilling to say any thing publicly about that of which 
I know so little ; and I should decline now, if my name had not 
already appeared in several journals without my permission, and 
in support of facts not correctly given. It was so in the refer- 
ence to me which the appendix to your first number contained, 
afterwards quoted by Colonel Stone, although there was no exag- 
geration. A man's own opinion may be of little importance ; but 
truth is of great importance on all subjects, and especially as to 
matters of observation and fact. I feel willing, therefore, and 
feel it to be due to others, to say, in brief, what I have seen and 
what I believe. 

" I can do this best by giving a view, first, of the principles by 
which, not I alone, but many observers in this city, have exam- 
ined this subject, and then of some of the results, so far as they 
can be called results. There seems to be an impression abroad, 
and here also, with many, that those of us who have not had suffi- 
cient confidence in our own wisdom, nor seen sufficient cause in 
the facts offered, to pronounce this whole affair an imposition, 
or reject it as an absurdity, are altogether believers and dupes. 
How far we are dupes, I am not concerned to say. That we are 
not believers, I do say. I believe I may say it of a very large 
portion of the intelligent in this place, though I am not authorized 
to speak for others. What is exactly intended, in saying that we 
are not believers, will appear from what follows. It may not be 
useless, to this or any cause, to speak of principles of evidence, — 
the kind of inquiry and test to which all matters of this kind 
should be subjected, — and the distinction between inquiring and 
believing. Candor and credulity are too often confounded. The 
first is one of the noblest of traits, most rare and most useful ; 
the last is one of the most common and most hurtful. Let me 
recommend, on this subject, the perusal of some pieces ascribed 
to Judge Williams, of Taunton, published first in a paper there, 
and afterward appended to a pamphlet by Charles Poyen, as writ- 
ten by 'a member of the Massachusetts Bench.' 

" The reality of that which is called animal magnetism is pure- 
ly a question of fact. As such I view it ; as such alone do I 
attach any importance to that which is said or done about it 
Whether it be new or old ; whether it agree with preconceived 
opinions or oppose them all ; whether the wise men in France of 
the last century, or those of the present, believe or disbelieve ; 
whether the marvellous powers here supposed, if real, would do 
most good or evil ; whether the « possessed nuns,' the ' Salem 



APPENDIX. 301 

witches,' and the ' old wives,' of all ages and hoth sexes, have not 
wrought as great wonders as the modern somnambulists, — are all 
questions of lively interest, it is true, and proper inquiry, but 
utterly impotent, if not irrelevant, in settling a question of fact 
Then, as to fears or hopes in regard to the truth of animal mag- 
netism, I have neither. I have not the least solicitude that it 
should prove either true or false. I know it is either true or false, 
whether proved so or not, whether I believe or reject, or any man, 
or all men. If it be false, it will do no great harm. If true, it 
will do good ; for all truth is good, and does good. Its interfer- 
ence with any other truth is an impossibility. It is not in the 
power of animal magnetism, or any tiling else, known or un- 
known, to destroy one particle of truth in religion, or nature, or man. 
Truths are never destroyed. They are not of man ; he can 
neither create nor annihilate the smallest of them. They are of 
God, and they are imperishable. There is but one question and 
one investigation, in this or any subject, that should awaken great, 
anxiety, or be deemed essential — What is truths 

" Now, in seeking the truth, in regard to animal magnetism, 
there seems to me to have been too much credulity, a too easy 
faith, with many. The public at large are incredulous, and they 
ought to be. Some of them, to be sure, are very weakly incredu- 
lous, from self-conceit, or obstinacy, or timidity, or blank igno- 
rance. But many are wisely incredulous. A healthy mind will 
never, as it cannot, believe that which is wholly strange, intrinsi- 
cally improbable, and not yet supported by evidence adapted to 
its nature or proportioned to its magnitude. And much of the 
evidence offered in this case, and relied on, is neither of the kind 
nor degree that the case demands. I have seen many trials, where 
the truth of every thing was almost taken for granted ; and the 
men and women merely looked on with open mouths. Supposing 
the ' subject ' was of course asleep, and insensible to all sounds 
and sights, they have openly said and done every thing, and then 
wondered that she knew it ! Tins is singular folly. It is child's 
play. The true principle in testing such supposed wonders, is to 
take nothing for granted ; no, nothing. 1 go to the examinations 
without assuming a single fact in the case, but rather distrusting 
every thing until it is proved. The whole matter is improbable ; 
i. e. is opposed by all we have ever seen, and all we know. I 
have a right, therefore, to institute the most rigid and suspicious 
scrutiny on every point I will not believe because the operator 
is an honest man, and the subject pure and true. That I do not 
dispute, and it is to be taken into the account But it does not 
of itself prove much in a case like this. The best men in the 
world may be deceived, and so may the wisest Nay, such is 
human nature, that, in certain circumstances, the best and wisest 
may deceive others, however unintentionally. I will not believe 
even my own senses, in matters so unaccountable, until I have 
26 



302 APPENDIX. 

had frequent opportunities of examining. I hold that any thing 
which is possible, is more probable than that a person should see 
without eyes, and travel without moving-. I demand, therefore, 
for such facts, such evidence as it is not possible to evade or 
resist. So long- as there can be any evasion or other explanation, 
my own mind will not receive the appearances as facts, whether 
others receive them or not, whether I wish to receive them or not 

" I distrust all appearances that may be feigned, or in which 
imagination may be the sole agent ; and the power of imagina- 
tion is almost indefinite. I distrust all answers given to leading 
questions. A very great portion of the questions which I have 
heard put to supposed somnambulists, have been suggestive. I 
distrust all information given, when that information could have 
been obtained either from hints carelessly dropped in the room, 
or from personal intercourse and previous knowledge of objects 
and places. To make out a case of actual clairvoyance, or of 
mental locomotion, there must be not only no probability, but no 
possibility, of any of the above helps or explanations. Nor can 
I conceive of but one kind of proof of this particular power, so 
inconceivable and inexplicable. That proof is the consciousness 
of holding in one's mind a fact unknown to all others, proposing 
the inquiry ourselves in the most guarded manner, without any 
suggestion, or hint, or help of any kind, and then hearing a true 
and unequivocal answer. It is little to hear others ask questions, 
when you know not what communication there may have been 
previously. It is insufficient to be told even that letters were 
read, through bandages and envelopes many, if you know nothing 
of the actors, even if you believe their assertions. For letters 
have been read, by peculiar processes, without being opened ; 
and letters have been opened and returned so well sealed^ that 
the writer himself could not detect any appearance of change. 
So that, while I disclaim all suspicion of foul play in the cases of 
this kind occurring here, I insist that they are not positive proof 
of the power of seeing through opaque substances, except where 
the letter is not for a moment lost sight of by the writer or opera- 
tor. If it is not lost sight of, but openly read, and its contents 
correctly told, then is this also evidence of the highest kind ; 
supposing, as before, that the writer is sure no one but himself 
knows what the letter contains. 

" These things are said, not for their peculiar value, but in ex- 
planation of the kind of feeling and principles of evidence which 
many in this place have brought to this subject. They show 
that, so far at least, there has been no very great credulity or 
liability to be deceived. And I believe I may add, — to speak 
now more definitely of the results, — that, whether deceived or 
not, some of us have not been satisfied. I know of few intelli- 
gent observers of animal magnetism in Providence who look 
upon the subject as settled, or who wish to be considered as any 



APPENDIX. 303 

other than interested and candid inquirers. If there are those 
who know not the difference between inquirers and believers, or 
who think that the only wise ones are the scoffers, we must be 
excused from going into any argument with them or about them. 
It is violating all probability and all common sense, to suppose 
that hundreds of men and women, of every profession and station, 
of unimpeachable veracity, and at least respectable information, 
without any concert, compensation, or assignable motive, should 
engage in the same childish attempts at imposition, produce the 
same strange results, and in different places become operators or 
subjects on a large scale, for no earthly end but the pleasure of 
being duped ! Then, to crown the wisdom of such a supposition, 
it is only necessary to take a single case ; for instance, that of a 
young woman, of good sense and character, feigning total blind- 
ness for a year or two before she hears of animal magnetism, in 
order to be prepared for it; subjecting herself to all manner of 
privations ; denying herself the agreeable privilege of seeing, 
working, eating, walking, or doing any thing with comfort ; falling 
repeatedly, in this pretended blindness, so as to receive serious 
injury, and remain for weeks in severe pain and dangerous illness ; 
then all at once contriving, her eyes still closed and covered, to 
walk about easily and to see correctly ; not for her own comfort 
or gain, but only for the public entertainment or public suspicion ; 
her family, physicians, and friends at home, all the while assert- 
ing her actual blindness, and all with whom she lives being 
unable to detect in her a single appearance of insincerity, or even 
power of management ; yet all an imposition ! Believe it who 
will. Find its parallel or explanation, if possible, in any case of 
witchcraft or delusion, or rather, imposition ; for it is important to 
distinguish. Delusion there may be, of some kind, in this very 
case, and every other ; but imposition there is not, if any evidence 
can be trusted, or any fact proved by testimony or observation. 

"This is the first result to which I am brought, viz., that there 
is no intentional deception in this matter. I do not say that 
none who have ever engaged in animal magnetism have been 
deceivers, or that there has been no wilful deception in a single 
instance here. I mean simply that, as a general, if not a universal 
fact, the circumstances of the case forbid a suspicion of fraud. 
Self-delusion there may be. But an attempt to delude others, 
any kind of collusion or imposition, artifice, management, hum- 
bug, there is no reason to suspect. Those only who exhibit 
themselves for mon^y, give room for any such suspicion ; and 
they may not have been guilty. In the most remarkable cases 
we have had, in almost every case that I have seen or heard, 
there has been an utter absence of all ground for suspicion of 
motives. Nor have I known of more than one observer who has 
imputed bad motives ; and he has given more evidence, in his 
book, of having practised, than of having detected, fraud. 



304 APPENDIX. 

" A second conclusion to which I have come, in common with 
most inquirers, is in favor of the reality of the magnetic sleep. 
This follows indeed from a belief in the honesty of those con- 
cerned. But it deserves notice as a conviction almost universal 
now, in the minds of those who have given any attention to the 
subject. There is no reason for the least doubt, that a peculiar 
sleep is produced by certain manipulations, differing widely from 
common sleep, accompanied often by a suspension of sensibility, 
and sometimes by a remarkable activity of mind and power of 
communication. So far as this constitutes animal magnetism, I 
doubt if there are many informed minds, in this or any city, or 
any country, who doubt its reality. 

" Of all beyond this, there are many who doubt, and there is 
reason for great diffidence and caution. In all that pertains to 
the action of one mind upon another without words or signs, i. e. 
the power of simple volition, — and all that is meant by clairvoy- 
ance, especially the faculty of inspecting human bodies, and 
visiting in spirit distant places, — I have no opinions which can be 
called conclusions, or absolute convictions. Much of the evi- 
dence adduced in support of these wonderful faculties, is to me 
wholly insufficient. I do not mean that it is suspicious or unim- 
portant, but insufficient to produce conviction. I have seen evi- 
dence, at times, which in itself was irresistible ; facts which I 
defy any man to account for, on any known principles. But the 
powers themselves which these facts tend to prove, are so amaz- 
ing, so utterly incomprehensible and tremendous, that my mind 
demands more evidence, repeated in every variety of circum- 
stance, and tested by all orders of men. before it will or can fully 
believe. Then, too, there are so many failures made by every 
somnambulist, so many inequalities, inconsistencies, and perplex- 
ities, that it becomes the part of wisdom, if not of necessity, to 
suspend judgment, and wait for greater revelations. Inequalities, 
it is true, and failures, are no proof of the absence of the power. 
They belong to all states of mind, and occur often even in the 
natural sciences. They weigh something in favor of the honesty 
of the parties. And at all events, until we know what the power 
is, we have no right to prescribe laws or conditions, to say that it 
must always do this or never do that. We ought only to exam- 
ine the more closely and widely on this account, and draw infer- 
ences and pronounce judgments with extreme caution. 

" ' But there are the facts? you say — ' what will you do with them W 
I can only say I know not what to do with them. Facts they are ; 
so far as I can discover. I have witnessed them, I have tried 
them severely, I have been compelled to admit them in some 
cases. The evidence has sometimes, in some few instances of 
my own observing, been as high and complete as I can conceive. 
But the cases have not been sufficiently numerous and varied, 
the evidence not sufficiently tested, to sustain belief in such man- 



APPENDIX. 305 

strous capacities. I will believe any thing, or, more properly, I 
must believe any and every thing, that is proved, whether I un- 
derstand its nature or not, whether I can reconcile it or not with 
my preconceived notions. Its relations, its purpose, its uses, and 
consequences, I leave with Him who gives all powers and or- 
dains all truth. But it must be proved ; and the proof must be 
proportioned to the nature and magnitude of the thing to be 
established. 

" You may wish me to refer to some facts. It cannot be ne- 
cessary, and I have already been too long. In the particular case 
with which my name has been connected, I had Miss B. wholly 
under my own control. I questioned her about places and objects 
which she had never seen, and some of which, as they then 
existed, no creature but myself could have known. I proposed 
the questions in the most guarded manner. I had never been 
satisfied before, and I did not expect to be then. But, if not sat- 
isfied, I was confounded. She described distant objects, ivhose 
position in some cases I had just changed, whose existence in other 
cases I did not then know or believe, so truly, so wonderfully, that 
I could only marvel. At other times, she has done the same in 
regard to my own house, and houses in other towns and states. 
Then, as to her power of seeing, (not taking her blindness for 
granted, though unquestionable,) I have tried it in various ways, 
and am convinced that she sees either by some other organ than 
the eye, or with such rays of light only as can penetrate all sub- 
stances, if there are any such. / have seen a sealed letter, con- 
taining a passage enclosed in lead, ichich letter she held at the side 
of her head not more than a moment, all in sight, then gave it 
back to the writer, and afterward wrote what she had read in it: 
the letter was opened in my presence, and the two writings agreed in 
every word, there being two differences in spelling only. Of her 
power, or that of any somnambulist, to examine bodies and de- 
scribe diseases in others, I have seen no satisfactory proof. But 
one of our first physicians, who has published nothing on the 
subject, has recently told me of a case of his own which is enough 
to silence, if not convince, most skeptics. 

"I regard the whole subject as a matter of curious study. It 
has no claim to be called a science, for that denotes something 
known and settled. It is hardly a subject for lectures or public 
discourses, much less for exhibition and profit. It should be 
subjected to private and quiet examinations, scientific inquiry, 
patient, rigid, unsparing experiment, yet candid and kind. If it 
will not bear this trial, let it fall. If it will, let us learn what it 
is. There is much doing now, I am told, privately and encour- 
agingly. Yet it will not surprise me if the whole matter dies 
away soon, and is not revived again for years. I am not san- 
guine about its progress or its benefits. If wisely pursued, 
neither weakly trusted nor weakly scorned, whatever of truth or 
26 * 



306 APPENDIX. 

delusion it contains will appear in good time. As yet, I believe 
little, but hope something, and fear nothing. 

" With great regard, 

"E. B. HALL." 



FROM THE REV. MR. KENT. 

"Roxbury, November 27, 1837. 
«Mr. T. C. Hartshorn: 

"Dear Sir: I shall give you a simple narrative of what 
passed in my presence, on the evening when Miss Brackett was put 
into the magnetic sleep and conducted to my place of residence in 
Roxbury, as the facts appeared to me, leaving you to make such a 
use of it as you may think proper, and others to draw whatever 
inferences from it they please. If charged with too great mi- 
nuteness, I will only say that my desire and purpose is to state 
the whole truth, without coloring or reservation. 

" Intending to visit the Mansfield mines in my August vacation, 
I was induced, by friends in Boston, who had recently witnessed 
the powers of different somnambulists, to go on to Providence,, 
and seek an opportunity to see them myself. One of these 
friends kindly obtained for me the letter of introduction pre- 
sented to you by me from your brother in Boston, in which he 
simply mentioned my being « a brother teacher,' and one anxious to 
see the effects of animal magnetism, from other motives than those 
of mere curiosity. Not a syllable was said, and I am sure no one 
could have conjectured, about the objects I should wish to have 
described, and which were described by Miss Brackett with a 
promptness, accuracy, and particularity, which amazed me. You 
must remember, also, that, in the course of my conversation with 
you, I had avowed myself, as I really was, before trial, a skeptic 
on the whole subject, to be reclaimed only by evidence which 
should seem to me irresistible ; and a determination to watch, 
with the closest scrutiny, every circumstance, look, and move- 
ment, that might pass before me ; and 1 distinctly remember that 
this was, also, your evidently sincere and repeatedly expressed 
desire. 

" Meeting accidentally with my friend Mr. Joseph Harring- 
ton, Jr. of this place, who assured me of his strong desire to 
witness an exhibition of somnambulic clairvoyance, if it existed, 
I requested, in your presence, the privilege of having him accom- 
pany me, which Mr. Metcalf, at whose house Miss B. was then 
residing, very kindly and politely granted. After calling, with 
Mr. Harrington, on Dr. C apron, the magnetizer, stating the mo- 
tive which led me to wait on him and solicit the favor of seeing 
his patient in the magnetic sleep, and having the hour fixed 
upon, we went to Mr. Metcalf's at half past 7, P. M. and 



APPENDIX. 



307 



were introduced to Miss Brackett. Dr. Capron soon came in, 
with several other gentlemen and ladies, who were successively 
introduced ; and, in a few minutes, he proposed to commence the 
process of magnetizing, after I had placed a rocking-chair where 
I pleased, and Miss B. had been led to it in the perfect attitudes 
of blindness, by Miss Metcalf. 

"In order to prevent unfairness or collusion between the parties, 
i requested that lamps might be placed near, and directly before, 
Miss B., and took my seat at her side. Dr. Capron readily com- 
plied with my request, but said that, as her eyes were still, as 
they had been for several days, inflamed, it would be necessary 
to put a bandage, or cotton, before them, to prevent the effects 
of too strong a light I proposed the latter ; it was brought, and, 
in our presence, rolled into balls, and inserted between the spec- 
tacles she wore and her eyes, in such a manner that it would have 
been impossible for her, even with the best eyes, to see a ray of light. 
This cotton was watched, and it remained in its place through the 
vjhole time. Of the process of magnetizing, I will only mention 
one or two phenomena which I have not seen stated. After Miss 
Brackett was apparently in a profound sleep, Dr. Capron re- 
quested us to observe the effect of pointing his fingers towards, 
but without touching by several inches, her hand. At first, her 
arm and hand Avere gently agitated, the agitation increasing as 
his fingers approached, until her hand was drawn or attracted 
with violence up to the magnetizer's. The experiment was 
repeatedly tried on the right and left hands, according to our di- 
rection, in every instance successfully, and with the same result, 
without a word spoken, or sign given, which could have indi- 
cated which hand would be approached. We were then requested 
to try the same experiment ourselves, and did so without the 
least effect 

"On being roused by Dr. Capron, Miss Brackett instantly 
started from her chair, and, to our astonishment, passed twice 
round the room, with a rapid and sure step, avoiding every indi- 
vidual and article of furniture, and saying that she "could not, 
and would not, stay where there were so many people." She 
then hurried through the parlor to the door of the entry, seized 
its handle instantly and unerringly, and, turning her face towards 
us, opened it, and gained the outer step, where Dr. Capron took 
her arm, and, persuading her to return, seated her in the chair 
she had left, when she was again introduced to all the strangers 
present; the first introduction having been made while she was 
in her natural state, the last while in the magnetic state. 

" Dr. Capron then requested a tumbler of water to be brought, 
and, after drinking about half of it himself, he roused Miss B., 
who had apparently sunk into a profound and quiet sleep, as she 
afterwards did repeatedly, and requested her to drink some of it 
She did so, when Mr. Harrington drew to a corner of the room, 



308 APPENDIX. 

and, after writing on a slip of paper, beckoned me to him, and 
simply held the paper before me, on which was written, ' Will 
the contents of the tumbler to be castor oil,'' or words to that effect 
He then beckoned to Dr. Capron, who went to him, and, reading 
the sentence, indicated by a nod that he would cheerfully do it ; 
and, retaking his seat, which was placed between two and three 
feet before Miss Brackett, he said, without moving a limb, or 
uttering a syllable more, — 

" ' Come, Lurena, drink a little of this, and you will feel better, 
I think ; ' alluding, as I supposed, to a severe headache, of which 
she had spoken to us in the course of our conversation, before the 
doctor's entrance. 

" She raised the tumbler to her lips, and suddenly replaced it 
in her lap, with evident nausea and aversion. 

" Dr C. ' Come, drink a little of it. It is very good.' 

" Miss B. ' Good ! ' moving her lips ; ' you know it is not good.' 

"Dr. C. 'Why?' 

" Miss B. ' Why ? It makes me sick.' 

" Dr. C. ' O, no ; drink one mouthful.' 

"She did so; and, had she witnessed the ceremony of taking 
pure castor a thousand times, the apparent effect on her could not 
have been more true to nature. 

" Mr. Harrington again summoned the doctor, and whispered, 
too low to be heard by any other person in the room, ' Will, now, 
that it is snuff? He returned, and repeated only words resembling 
those used in the first experiment. On looking into the tumbler, 
she seemed to smile ironically, and said, — 

" • Drink this ! drink this ! you know I cannot,' with an expres- 
sion of countenance which any one, seeing snuff to be the con- 
tents of a tumbler about to be drank off, must have assumed. 

"I then requested Dr. C, in the same manner, to 'ivill it to he 
pleasant lemonade.'' After long persuasion, without a word or 
gesture, however, which could have indicated the nature of my 
request, on Dr. C.'s part, she put the tumbler cautiously to her 
lips, and, tasting, drank the whole of the water that remained. 

" Dr. C. ' Well, Lurena, how do you like that ? ' 

"Miss B. 'Why, it's very good, but a little too sour? 

" Some one of the strangers present now requested, in a whis- 
per, that he would ' will the tumbler to be filled ivith an ice-cream. 1 
I sat at Miss B.'s elbow, and watched both her countenance and 
Dr. C.'s words and motions. Collusion, or any thing like a secret 
understanding between them in what followed, I believe to have 
been impossible. 

" Dr. C. ' Come, Lurena, drink what I have got for you now. 
You will find it very good.' 

" Rousing, she looked into the empty tumbler, and continued 
silent. On further inquiry, she said, — 

" ' You know I cannot drink it' 



APPENDIX. 309 

"Dr. C. 'Why?' 

" Miss B. ' I've been waiting for a spoon this half hour. 1 

" A spoon was then brought and given her. She raised the 
tumbler, and, imitating to perfection the manner of a lady taking 
an ice-cream in a fashionable and elegant circle, she finished it, 
and replaced the tumbler in her lap, as one waiting for a servant 
to take it 

« Dr. C. < Well, is not that good ? ' 

" Miss B. « Yes, it's very good, but a little too highly flavored 
for me.' 

"I should have mentioned that, while eating it, she put her 
hand to her face in apparent pain. 

"Dr. C. ' What is the matter with your face ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Why, it makes my teeth ache, it 's so cold' 

"I then requested Dr. Capron to take the tumbler from her, 
and, in a whisper scarcely audible to him, to ' ivill a black kitten 
to be in her lap' He assented, and, taking his seat before her, 
as I did mine at her side, he said, without previously uttering a 
syllable, even in whisper, to any one, or making the least motion, 
'Lurena, come, wake up, and see what you have in your lap.' 
She seemed gradually to wake. ' What have you in your lap?' 
Looking down, she instantly began to draw her arms up with 
aversion at the object seen, but remained silent. 

" Dr. C. < What is the matter ? Is it not pretty ?' 

" Drawing her arms still farther up, she said, evidently offended, 
1 Pretty ? no. What have you put that in my lap for ? I sha'n't 
take it! I won't!' 

" Dr. C. ' O, yes ; take it' 

" Miss B. ' I wonV 

" Dr. C. ' Well, if you do not like it, give it to me.' Lifting 
it precisely as one would by the nape of the neck, and tossing it 
she said, ' There, take the dirty black thing!' 

"The preceding experiments were tried, in consequence of 
our having heard that similar ones had been made without failure 
in any instance ; and I am as certain as I am of being able to 
see or hear any thing directly before me, that no direction, either 
by a whisper, pause, or gesture, was given by the magnetizer to 
the magnetized ; and I know that the directions I gave Dr. C. 
could not have been anticipated by him or any one else. 

"I now requested Dr. Capron to take her to Roxbury, and to 
' stop in front of the Universalis meeting-house at the bottom of 
the hill,' as the nearest prominent object to my own house. 

" Dr. C. ' Well, Lurena, Mr. Kent wishes us to go to Roxbury 
and visit his house. Will you go ? ' 

"Miss B. ' Yes, I should like to go very well.' 

" Dr. C, ' In what way shall we go ? ' 

" Miss B. ' We will go through the air, if you please, and I 
should like to go high.' 

« Dr. C, at some one's suggestion. « Why do you wish to go high ?' 



310 APPENDIX. 

" Miss B. ' Why, to avoid the steeples and trees that will be 
in our way.' 

"The appearance manifested on her passage from place to 
place, has been correctly described by others. In about one and 
a half minutes, Dr. C. said, — 

" ' Well, Lurena, have we got there ? ' 

" Miss B. 'Yes, we have ;' with an appearance of exhaustion. 

P At this moment, Dr. Capron proposed to put me in communi- 
cation with her, as he had engagements to attend to at the hour 
arrived. I requested, however, that I might first see you take 
the guidance of her, as I was wholly ignorant of the manner of it 
Dr. C. mentioned that this might be as well, and introduced you. 

" Mr. H. 'Miss Brackett, how do you do ? I am very happy 
to meet you in Roxbury.' 

" Miss B. ' Why, Mr. Hartshorn, how came you to be here ? ' 

" Mr. H. ' I am here on a visit.' 

" You were not in the room when all present were led up and 
mentioned or introduced, after she was magnetized. Mr. Har- 
rington now requested you to ask her what she saw. 

"Mr. H. ' Well, Miss Brackett, what building have we here ?' 

" Miss B. ' Why do you ask that question ? You can se,e for 
yourself, as well as I can.' 

"Mr. H. ' Yes, but I should like to know how we agree. 5 

" Miss B. ' Why, it is a large meeting-house.' 

"Mr. H. ' Well, look round ; look up; what o'clock is it?' 

" Miss B., after apparent examination. ' It has no clock. 1 This 
is correct. 

" Mr. H. ' What do you see ? Are there any lights ? ' 

" * Yes, there are ; and what strange people they are in Roxbu- 
ry, to have lights on posts in the daytime ! If I could only reach 
higher, I would take them down, it looks so silly.' 

" Mr. Harrington now directed you to ask what she saw before 
the meeting-house. 

"Miss B. 'I see a building.' 

« Mr. H. < What sort of a building is it ? ' 

"Miss B. 'It is a brick one.' Correct. 

" Mr. H., at Mr. Harrington's suggestion. ' Now, Miss Brack- 
ett, we will go to this building. Are we there ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Yes, we are.' 

" Mr. H. ' Well, should you like to go in, and see what there 
may be there ? ' 

" Miss B. ' I should.' 

" Mr. H., after a moment's pause. ' What do you see ? ' 

" Miss B. ' O, how beautiful these are ! How good they taste ! ' 
She then appeared to eat some kind of fruit ; but, suddenly 
stopping, said, ' O, I forgot ; I have no money, sir ; 1 beg your 
pardon;' and apparently kid down what she held in her hand. 

"Mr. H. 'What are you eating, Miss Brackett? Do }Ovl 
wish for money ? Here it is.' 



APPENDIX, 



311 



■5 Miss B., smiling with evident pleasure. ' I thank you ; ' and 
seeming to take up the fruit again and eat it, said, ' How pleasant 
it is! It is so good I think I'll take another.' She did so. 

" Mr. H., by direction. « What sort of fruit is it ? ' 

" Miss B. ' I don't hardly know. They are apples or pears. 
They taste very good.' 

" Mr. H. « Well, Miss Brackett, look round and see what else 
you may like. It will refresh you to take something after your 
rapid journey.' In a few moments, putting her left hand under 
the chin, she seemed like one attempting to crack a hard-shelled 
nut with the teeth. 

" Mr. H. < What have you there ? ' 

" Miss B. i Why, it's a Castalia nut, and so hard that I can't 
crack it ;' trying with still greater effort. 

" Mr. H. ' Castalia nut ? You mean, do you not, the Castana 
nut ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Yes ; I don't know what you call it ; but J call it. 
a Castalia nut.' 

" Mr. H. ' Well, shall we go now ? ' 

" Miss B. ' If you please. But, O, I haven't paid the gentle- 
man. There, sir ; ' laying, as it were, money upon a counter. 

" The building where this imaginary scene passed is a brick 
one, occupied at present as a West India goods store. The day 
after my return from Providence, I called at this store and in- 
quired, first, whether the storekeeper had any fruit for sale on 
Wednesday evening. He replied in the affirmative, and directed 
me to a basket of apples which he said had been on the counter 
three or four days. On tasting one, I certainly should not have 
doubted the correctness of Miss B.'s taste, had she been present 
when she seemed to enjoy them so much in imagination. ' Have 
you any Castana nuts?' 'You will find them in the window 
next to the door.' They were there in one of the three divisions of 
a box, containing different kinds of nuts. 

" At the door of the store you will remember having put me in 
communication with her. 

" Mr. H. ' Miss Brackett, here is our mutual friend, Mr. Kent, 
who was introduced to you in Providence.' 

" l Good evening, Miss Brackett ; I am very glad to see you in 
Roxbury ; ' taking her hand. 

" Miss B. ' Why, Mr. Kent, how did you get here so soon ? ' 
with apparent surprise and emphasis. 

" ' I followed you in the railroad cars,' 

" Miss B. ' la the cars ! That is impossible ! You could not 
travel so fast in the cars as I did through the air.' 

" * Well, suppose, then, that I came in the stage.' 

" Miss B. ' In the stage ! You have just said you came in 
the cars ! Your stones do not seem to hang together ; ' smiling. 

u 'I confess, Miss Brackett, that I cannot tell you how I came ; 



312 APPENDIX. 

but that is of no consequence ; it is certain I am here, and 
wish you to go with me to my house, a short distance from this, 
Will you attend me ? ' 

" Miss B. * Yes, sir, I will,' 

" After a time sufficient to conduct her only a few steps, and 
giving two or three directions, I said, ' Stop, we must go back 
and start again. I believe I am wrong.' She laughed audibly. 
' What are you laughing at, Miss Brackett ? ' 

"Miss B. 'Why, I am laughing at the fact that you, a gen- 
tleman, should invite me to attend you to your house, ivhen you 
don't know the way there yourself! ' I cheerfully confess, sir, that 
my feelings at this moment, in consequence of what I had wit- 
nessed and heard after her arrival in Roxbury, very much resem- 
bled those of an oratorical tyro, who has lost the place in his 
manuscript, and stands before an audience evidently waiting for 
words, which it is not in his power to command, utterly at fault ! 
I did not feel certain that I should select such landmarks and use 
such terms as would be sure to guide such a companion to the 
house, and said, 'I am very free to acknowledge, Miss Brackett, 
that you may have a better guide, under my direction, and here 
is our friend, Mr. Hartshorn, Avho will take you in charge.' 

« Mr. H. ' Will you go with me to Mr. Kent's ? ' 

"Miss B., with evident pleasantry. 'I will; for he does not 
seem to know the way there himself! ' 

" Mr. H., by direction. ' We are now at the first corner on 
the right, Miss Brackett. What do you see ? ' 

" Miss B. ' See ? A large brick house.' 

" Mr. H. ' Is it a tavern ? ' 

" Miss B. ' It may be. I think it is.' 

" Mr. H. ' We will go forward a little. What do you see ? ' 

" Miss B., after a pause. ' I shall not tell you, for you can 
see it yourself.' 

" Mr. H. ' I wish to see whether we agree in opinion.' 

" Miss B. ' It's a very large barn.' The stable by which she 
must pass measures ninety feet by thirty-two. 

" Mr. H. ' Is there any thing on the top of it ? Look up.' 

" Miss B., after looking up. ' Why, what curious people 
there are here ! They keep lamps on posts burning in the day- 
time, and put creatures on their barns.' There is on this livery 
stable an unusually large gilded vane, in the form of a horse. 

"Mr. H. 'We will now go forward, cross a street, and on the 
left-hand corner is Mr. Kent's house.' After a short pause, * Are 
we there ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Yes.' 

" Mr. H. ' What is there before his house ? ' 

" Miss B. ' I sha'n't tell you, for you know.' 

" Mr. H. ' O, yes, tell me. Is there any yard here ? ' As you 
had never seen my house, your question was put at random. 

"MissB. 'Yard? Yes.' 



APPENDIX. 31$ 

u Mr. H. ' What sort of one is it ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Why do you ask such questions ? ' 

" Mr. H. ' Is it a gravelled one ? ' 

" Miss B. ' No ; it is a green one ; you know it is.' She 
seemed here, as in several other instances, to feel that she was 
trifled with. Her answer was correct. 

" Mr. H. ' Well, we will go in and enter the room on the 
left. Are we there ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Yes. What a handsome carpet this is ! ' 

" Mr. EL, by direction. ' What kind of a carpet is it ? Is it 
Brussels, Kidderminster, or what is it ? ' 

" Miss B. ' 1 hardly know what to call it. It's a very hand- 
some one, but it is not woollen. 1 The carpet is a painted canvass, 
one which had been purchased at the factory and laid down a 
short time before. 

"I was here again put in communication with her. 'Well, 
Miss Brackett, you see me now at home, and I wish you to look 
round this room and tell me what you think of the different 
objects here.' 

" Miss B., apparently looking at the wall. ' O, what a beauti- 
ful picture this is ! It would be perfect if the hair of the lady was 
pushed a little farther back. It comes too low over the forehead.' 
Speaking in a whisper to herself, ' O, what hair ! it spoils it I 
wish I could push it back ; ' motioning with her fingers, as if 
attempting to do so. ' How beautiful that arm is ! ' The picture 
described is a Chinese copy of a lady holding a kitten in her 
arms, and hangs nearest the door. Although it has been there 
three years, I was unconscious of any striking defect in the hair, 
but found, on my return, that no artist, with perfect eyes and the 
most discriminating taste, could have made more just criticism 
upon it than she did. Her remark upon the arm was precisely the 
same, in words, that I have repeatedly heard made by others. 

" '• We will now, Miss Brackett, pass on, if you please. What 
do you see here ? ' 

" Miss B. ' See ! what you see, sir, — a table.' 

'"Is there any thing over it?' 

" Miss B. ' O, that lady is perfect How beautiful she is ! ' 
with earnest emphasis. The painting over the table is a Chinese 
copy, also, of a full-length portrait of ' the Maid of Athens,' and 
was correctly described. 

" ' Is there any thing on this table ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Yes ; and they are the handsomest of the kind I 
ever saw. How very beautiful these are ! I must look into one 
of them.' 

" ' Well, Miss Brackett, open and look into it' 

" Miss B., seeming to make an unsuccessful attempt ' I can't ; 
it is locked.' 

" At your suggestion. ' You can look through the top of it' 
27 



314 APPENDIX. 

« Miss B. ' No ; I want the key. I shall not look through the 
cover of such a one as this is.' 

" ' Well, here is the key ; ' putting the ends of my fingers to hers, 

"Miss B», trying it, and handing it back again. 'It does 
not fit.' 

" ' O, I have given you the wrong one. This is the key.' 

" Miss B., holding it up, and looking at it with a smile. ' What 
a pretty, cunning little key this is ! I never saw one of such a 
color.' Inserting and carefully turning it, she opened the box, 
and seemed to admire the inside. There were on the table two 
Chinese work-boxes, having the usual pieces within, and, what 1 
believe is not common, a very beautiful cluster of flowers painted 
on white satin, in the cover of each, with a third, resembling 
them in external appearance. The key was described with, 
amusing and singular accuracy ; and I found, on my return, that 
Mrs. K. had locked the outside work-box, in compliance with our 
agreement before I left home, that she should make what striking 
alterations, unknown to me and every one else, in my room, she 
pleased. I, in a few moments, asked what else she saw on the 
table, having in my own mind a large book of paintings on rice 
paper, which I remembered leaving on this table before the work- 
boxes, of whose merits I was curious to learn her opinion. She 
smiled, but would make no reply. 

" *■ I wish you now to look at the fireplace. Is there any thing 
before it ? ' 

u Miss B. ' Yes. O, what a singular and splendid urn that 
is ! I never saw one so large, and of such a color.' 

"'What is its color?' 

" Miss B. ' I don't know what color to call it ; ' speaking in an 
undertone. ' It looks white — red.' The urn standing there was 
a large one, of polished variegated porphyry. 

" ' Now, Miss Brackett, look over the mantel-piece ; look high. 
Is there any thing there ? ' 

" Miss B., speaking with evident emotion and veneration. 
' O, how beautiful — beautiful!' And, as she spoke, she bent 
forward, folded her arms on her breast, and put herself exactly in 
the attitude of our Saviour, as he is painted in a miniature which 
represents him at the moment when he said, ' Thy will be done.' 
This painting is on ivory, three inches square in the clear, set in 
a deep and broad gilt frame, and hangs about one and a half feet 
over the mantel-piece. It was received from Canton, and placed 
there but a few days before, and I know that no individual in 
America, except my family, had then seen it. I continued, — 

" ' What do you see, Miss Brackett ? ' 

" Miss B., raising her eyes. ' What a beautiful picture that is ! * 

" ' Is it a large one ? ' 

u Miss B. ' No ; it's a very small one. It's too small.' 

"■ ' Is it as small as the one opposite ? ' 



APPENDIX. 315 

tt Miss B. ' Yes ; why, you know it is as small again.' Correct, 

" ' Well, look down ; is there any thing under it?' 

" Miss B. ' You know there is.' 

"'What is it?' 

" Miss B., promptly. ' It 's an image 1 of ChrisV There was, 
standing directly under the picture, a cast-iron image of our 
Saviour bearing his cross, in bass-relief. 

" l What more do you see here ? ' 

" Miss B. ' What large and beautiful vases these are ! ' 

" ' Vases ! How many are there ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Why, you can see as well as I do. There are 
two.' There were four glass shades, or vases, covering large 
specimens of Chinese rice-paper flowers ; two of them touching 
each other at each end of a long and broad mantel-piece. 

« ' We will now, if you please, go into the other room, and see 
what may be there.' 

" Miss B. ' Stop a moment ; I want to rest me on this sofa ; my 
he id aches.' A sofa stands between the fireplace and door, by 
which she would naturally pass. 

" In a few moments. ' Will you go now ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Yes, I will.' 

" « And what do you find in this room ? 7 

" Miss B. ' What ! are there pictures here, too ? But 1 dotft 
like this room so well as the other.' 

" ' You do not ? Look round, if you please, and tell me what 
the pictures are.' 

" Miss B. ' Why, I don't know what they are. There is one 
that looks like an apostle.' There was no such picture in the room, 
although there had been hut a few days before. 'O, these are 
beautiful. O, they are beautiful, very beautiful.' 

" ' What are they ? ' 

"MissB. ' Why, this book of pictures. Don't you see them?"' 

" < Where are they ? ' 

" Miss B. ' On the piano-forte. But I must go back into the 
other room. I want to look longer at the pictures there.' I found, 
on my return, that Mrs. K. had removed this book from the table in 
the other room, where I left it, to the piano, in this room ; and, in 
sport, placed a coffee-pot in its stead. Whether or not this was the 
object smiled at, but not mentioned, I leave others to decide. Re- 
turning with my charge to the other room, I requested Dr. Ca- 
pron, who had now come in, to receive her from me. He did so, 
and, after indulging her in looking at the pictures a short time, 
on which she made the same remarks as before, he said, — 

"'Well, Lurena, Mr. Kent wishes us, now, to go up stairs. 
Will you go ? ' 

« Miss B. ' Yes, I will.' 

"Dr. C* 'We will go up and enter the left-hand door.' 

* These and many of the succeeding questions were put by my direc- 
tion, Dr. C. being unacquainted with my house. 



316 APPENDIX. 

" ' What do you see here ? ' 

" Miss B. ' See ! I see a lady.' 

" Dr. C. ' How is she dressed ? ' Her answer was correct 

" « How old is she ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Why, that is a polite question ! Madam, bowing 
and smiling as she spoke, ' the gentleman wishes me to ask you how 
old you are ! ' 

" Dr. C. ' How old do you think she is ? ' 

" Miss B., raising her eyes. ' I don't know. I should think she 
is about twenty.' 

" Dr. C. ' Are there any other persons in the room ? ' 

"Miss B. 'No.' Mrs. K. was the only person up, in the 
chamber, at the time. There were, however, two children asleep in 
the bed. 

" Dr. C. ' We will now go forward and down stairs, and pass 
through the left-hand door.' 

" « What sort of room is it ? ' 

"Miss B. 'It's a large kitchen.' Correct. In a short time 
she seemed to be sipping something. 

"Dr. C. 'What have you found, Lurena, — any thing to 
eat?' 

"Miss B. 'Eat! no. It's water, and very good water too.' 
There is in the corner of this kitchen a small table, on which my 
cook keeps habitually a water-pail, and generally a long-handled 
tin dipper in it. On my return, I inquired of her if she remem- 
bered certainly whether there was water left in the pail on the 
evening mentioned. She replied that she was certain of having 
left it half full, in consequence of finding more water in the 
boiler than she expected on that evening. This pail, however, 1 
found, without letting any one know the object of my examina- 
tion, to be left empty when my domestics retired, four nights in 
succession. I now directed Dr. Capron to take her into the next 
apartment, 'the pump-room, with a lattice front,' forgetting, in my 
astonishment at what had passed before me, that there was an inter- 
mediate room. 

" Dr. C. ' Well, we will now go into the next room. What 
sort of room is it ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Why, this is a kitchen too, only it is a smaller one.'' 
Correct 

" Dr. C. ' We will go through the next one, and take the left- 
hand door into another room. Are we there ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Yes, but,'' with evident surprise, ' why did they tell 
me Mr. Kent was a minister ? It isn't true. He's a schoolmaster ! ' 
Dr. C. looked at me, and appeared, at least, to believe that his 
patient was here at fault You will remember having assured 
me, sir, on the evening when we separated before the Franklin 
House in Providence, that you had mentioned me, both to Miss 
Brackett and Dr. Capron, only as a minister. On my stating to 



APPENDIX. 317 

the latter that, although I had been a minister, she was correct, he 
said, ' A schoolmaster, Lurena ? Why do you say he is a school- 
master ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Why, you say this is his room, and he is a school- 
master because this is a school-room. And I never saw such a 
one. He lias pictures here too. And what singular desks these 
are ! He has chairs fixed instead of seats.' It would have been 
impossible for a person with perfect eyes, and in broad sunlight, 
to give a more accurate description of this room than she did. 
I could not at this moment repress my impatience to have her 
conducted to the room above, the character and contents of which, 
I was sure, could be known neither to yourself, to Dr. Capron, to 
Miss Brackett, nor to any one else in Providence, except Mr. 
Harrington, who had been totally silent on the subject, from the fact 
that I had myself scrupulously guarded against giving the least 
hint of them to any one, that less than three days had elapsed 
since my letter of introduction to you was written, that I was a 
perfect stranger to your brother in Boston, who penned it, and 
that to entertain a moment's suspicion of collusion between him 
and the gentleman who obtained it for me, by which any intelli- 
gence of the truth might have been secretly communicated, 
would be a gross and unpardonable insult to unimpeachable in- 
tegrity. 

" Dr. C. at length said, * Come, Lurena, we will now go out of 
this room, and up stairs into the room above, which Mr. Kent 
wishes us to see. Will you go ? ' 

" Miss B. < Stop ; I can't go up yet I must sit down in this 
chair and rest me ; my head aches.' 

" Dr. C. ' Well, sit down ; we need not be in haste.' He then 
made a few motions with the hands before her, after which she 
soon roused, and said, in reply to his invitation, * I don't want to go 
up these stairs.' 

"Dr. C. 'Why?' 

" Miss B. * Because they are so steep and twisting.' Appa- 
rently making an effort, ' They are the hardest stairs I ever went 
up.' The stairs leading to the room above are in one corner of 
the school-room, not out of it ; are ' steep and twisting,' and have 
more than once occasioned in others the same complaint while 
ascending them. 

" Dr. C. ' Well, are you in the room ? ' 

" Miss B. « Yes. Why, is it possible ? What a singular man 
Mr. Kent is ! He is a minister and a schoolmaster, and keeps a 
museum. I must see all these things. I could stay here four or 
five days ; yes, a month. How many things there are ! ' While 
she appeared to examine objects, I requested Dr. C. to question 
her in relation to what she saw. He did so. 

" Miss B. « Why, what a curious loindow that is! I never 
saw one before that went clear across a room ! And onlv look ! 
27* 



318 APPENDIX. 

He has got it full behind the windows, too. What large things ! 
The glass seems to magnify them.' My astonishment was at 
this moment complete. There is a glass window, or partition^ 
across the room, to secure my apparatus, and several large articles 
connected with natural history. 

" Dr. C. * What now do you see ? Look up.' 

" Miss B. ' Why, that is very handsome.' 

«Dr. C. 'What is it?' 

" Miss B. ' It looks like marble.' Alluding, as I supposed, to 
a bust of plaster of Paris, standing on a pedestal against the par- 
tition. 

" Dr. C. ' Are there any shells here ? ' 

" Miss B. ' Why do you ask me that question, when you 
know I have just put one into your hand ? ' There were shells 
within her reach. After she had seemed to examine the different 
objects around with the different sensations which they were 
adapted to produce, I requested Dr. C. to take her to a friend's 
house in this place ; but she refused decidedly to go, saying, she 
would leave this room to see no other one in Roxbury. She was 
then charged to remember some of the things, with a view to 
having them described the next day, assured that she might re- 
turn to look at my cabinets when, and stay as long as, she pleased. 

" Reconducted to Providence in the same manner as she came 
to Roxbury, and reentering the room at Mr. Metcalf 's, she in- 
stantly said, ' Why, there are two gentlemen here, to whom I 
have not been introduced ! ' It was acknowledged, and she was 
introduced to these gentlemen, strangers from a distant state, 
who had entered the room between her leaving and returning to 
Providence. 

" In eight or ten days after, the parents of Mr. Harrington 
called upon me and expressed a wish to see my cabinets, saying 
that they had received a letter from him, (he had not yet returned 
home,) mentioning that Miss Brackett had returned to them, and 
spent the night in examination, after being put into the magnetic 
sleep ; that she had described to Miss Metcalf, the next day, cer- 
tain objects which he mentioned, but which they had decided not 
to name, until they had seen for themselves. We went to the 
room, where they found every object Mr. H. had specified in his 
letter — a bust of Milton, a large table in the centre of the room, 
several pictures scattered on one side of it, which belong to a 
perspective box, and a box covered with paper, which strikingly 
resembles what Miss Brackett said it was — ' something like Mo- 
saic work.'' I could not account for her recognition of Milton's 
bust, seen, as it was, in a teacher's room, or ' museum,' where any 
other than his would be likely to have place, until I found, on 
being requested by a gentleman to examine it, what I had for- 
gotten — the name, ' Milton,' written deeply and legibly on the 
back of it, which touched a board partition. 



APPENDIX. 319 

" I am aware, sir, that there may seem to be indelicacy in thus 
exposing to the public the objects to be found in a private dwell- 
ing, and I would, if I could, have avoided it. But I promised, at 
the moment of leaving you, to describe and place at your dis- 
posal an account of what I saw and heard. It is right to keep 
that promise ; and, in doing this, I have felt obliged to give liter- 
ally the questions asked and answers returned. You have, ac- 
cording to my best recollection, the whole truth, without reservation 
or intentional coloring. The facts, as they appeared to me, are 
at your disposal. With the inferences to be drawn from them I 
have nothing here to do, and cheerfully leave the subject with 
those who may think it worthy either of their ridicule or serious 
consideration, calmly and humbly asking for myself, ' What shall 
we do with these things ? ' 

" Yours, very respectfully and truly, 

"BENJAMIN KENT." 

FROM MR. JOSEPH HARRINGTON, JUN. 

" Roxbury, November 29, 1837. 

" Dear Sir : I was present at the above-mentioned interview 
of my friend, Mr. Kent, with Miss Brackett ; and with the excep- 
tion of a few unimportant particulars, wherein my memory does 
not distinctly serve me, I bear unhesitating witness to the truth 
of every statement contained in his communication. Unless our 
senses were grossly deceived, or our judgments thoroughly be- 
wildered, we were, on the evening referred to, spectators of won- 
derful and unexplained mental phenomena. And most desirous 
must every lover of truth be, that the subject of 'animal mag- 
netism ' should receive that attention which it merits, and that its 
juggles, if it possess any, should be exposed, or its astounding 
revelations be corroborated by accumulated testimony, and its 
mysterious nature unravelled. If your humble servant, sir, has 
been duped, hardly less wonderful is the dexterity of the impos- 
tors than somnambulism itself. 

" With great respect, 

" Your obedient servant, 

"JOSEPH HARRINGTON, Jun. 

" Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 

FROM MR. FREDERICK S. CHURCH. 

" Providence, September 1, 1837. 
** Mr. T. C. Hartshorn : 

"Sir: In a conversation with you a few evenings ago, you 
asked of me a short sketch of what I had seen of the phenomenon 
called somnambulism. 

" In reply, I can only say that my observation has been con- 



320 APPENDIX. 

fined principally to one case, and that of a young lady of this city 
known to you. I first saw her the latter part of May, and having 
previously heard much, but seen nothing, I was, like most others, 
rather incredulous respecting the facts related to me by those 
who had witnessed them. After seeing her put into an appa- 
rently sound and quiet sleep, from which she could not be awak- 
ened by any of the means usually employed to rouse sleeping 
persons, the magnetizer proceeded to show the influence of his 
will, by causing her to see things which existed only in imagina- 
tion ; for instance, to drink water from an empty cup, and to 
eat bread, fruit, cake, &c, from an empty plate. She was also 
made to see and describe distinctly the number of persons in the 
room, articles of small size wrapped in many thicknesses of cloth, 
or in the pockets of the persons present. Having known of her 
being sent abroad and describing persons and things, and having 
found her descriptions to be generally correct, where proof was 
to be had, I was once induced to request her being sent to the 
Island of Cuba, knowing that, if she could describe things there 
of which neither she nor any one present, save myself, had the 
most remote conception, it would, in my mind, put the matter of 
her spiritual vision beyond the possibility of a doubt. The re- 
quest was complied with, by sending her along the sea-coast in a 
south-westerly direction, until she came to the peninsula of Flor- 
ida. She was then directed to go directly south over the sea, 
until she came to land. Not more than half a minute elapsed 
before she announced her arrival. She was then told to seek a 
city. It was almost immediately found, and, being called on to 
describe the entrance from the sea, I was satisfied she was at 
Matanzas. Wishing at that time to have her at Havana, she 
was directed to go west about sixty miles, until she came to 
another city, which she did. Being told to enter it by the harbor, 
and relate what she saw on the right-hand side going in, she 
described a large stone building, unfinished, which I knew to be 
a new prison then building, likewise the city walls, mounted with 
cannon, the shipping and the harbor generally, with the forts on 
the opposite side of the entrance, Moro Castle, Castle Blanco, 
the lighthouse, &c. Leading questions were of course avoided. 

" She also described correctly the quay, the launches loading 
from an open shed, with many persons there collected, standing 
smoking, &c. ; which place is used as a kind of Exchange, where 
the ' merchants do most congregate. 1 

"She was then directed to enter a large building in that vicini- 
ty — the Cathedral ; and her description of it was very minute, and, 
so far as my memory served, was very correct Being asked what 
kind of church it was, she replied she did not know, having never 
seen any thing of the kind before. Observing a number of 
priests officiating at the altar, her attention was directed to them. 
On being asked their probable age, she said that « two were near- 



APPENDIX. 321 

ly bald, and three, although very young 1 , were beginning to be 
so;' fully satisfying me that she recognised the 'priest with the 
shaven crown.' 1 She saw one bearing a bright vessel, suspended 
by a chain, from whence issued a smoke, which he swung before , 
and others engaged apparently at prayer, and kneeling before the 
altar. Occasionally a lid would close over it, and the smoke 
cease, when it would be handed to a boy in attendance, then 
taken back again, and so used several times during the cere- 
mony. She described with exactness the organ as being very 
small for so large a building, and much out of place, which is 
the fact, being situated in an arch of the ceiling above the capi- 
tals of the columns ; the floor of the altar as being beautifully 
inlaid with marble, in Mosaic ; also the many and splendid paint- 
ings on the walls. 

" At another time, she visited Matanzas, describing the vessels 
in the harbor with sufficient exactness for me to identify one in 
which I was interested ; the quay or landing ; the public square, 
with orange-trees on the border, and a marble statue in the 
centre ; the church at that place, with the peculiar architecture 
and location of the town ; together with the interior of the church, 
the altar, statues, ornaments, &c, including a miniature brig sus- 
pended from the ceiling, by some pious individual, who had been 
saved from shipwreck by praying heartily to his patron saint, 
and thus fulfilled his vows by dedicating the said vessel to his or 
her glory. 

" I recognised, by her description, three ladies of my acquaint- 
ance at their residence. And her whole description, so far as 
my memory could be relied on, was strictly correct. I would ob- 
serve, that, on first being sent to Cuba, no name of place was 
given her, and nearly ten days elapsed before I met her again, 
when she asked me where she had been sent ; as she knew it 
must have been in a foreign country, the appearance of things 
being so entirely different from any thing she had before seen. 

"I close by giving you the assurance of my most implicit 
belief in what I have witnessed, only stating facts, and not at- 
tempting to account for them. 

" Respectfully yours, 

« FREDERICK S. CHURCH." 



NOTE XXIX. — Page 102. 

It may be that Deleuze had then in his mind the lamented 
Georget, who had published his work on physiology a few years 
before. I am sure the reader will be obliged to°me for trans- 
lating the brief notice of him taken by M. Foissac, page 283. 

" The experiments at the Hotel Dieu have proved the reality 
of a particular agent, entirely independent of the patient's imagi- 



322 APPENDIX. 

nation. Those of La Salpetriere afford instances of the extraordi- 
nary phenomena of somnambulism, produced and tested by men 
who are an ornament to science, and whose talents and integrity 
no person has yet dared to dispute. It was not the love of the 
marvellous, nor of notoriety, Avhich induced M. Georget to study 
the subject. In his work on madness, he inserted the following 
passage: 'So long as these magnetizers perform their experi- 
ments in the dark, with the aid of their abettors ; so long as they 
do not work their miracles before the Academy of Sciences or 
the Faculty of Medicine, they will permit us to omit the trouble 
of refuting their reveries or their faith.' But Georget's incredu- 
lity having been shaken by the experiments of the Hotel Dieu, 
he examined with distrust what he at first rejected with dis- 
dain ; and, six months after having written the preceding lines, 
he added, in a note, while his work was in the press, that he had 
since witnessed several magnetic phenomena, and that he had 
himself put to sleep several of his convalescent patients, and 
caused them to speak, of which we shall present a very succinct 
analysis. 

"When he put his somnambulists in communication with a sick 
person, they immediately experienced a pain, an uneasiness, and 
sometimes a sharp affection in the corresponding organs. It often 
happened that they were immediately attacked with epilepsy and 
hysterical fits when they touched persons afflicted with these 
maladies, just before the attacks came on.* 

"A somnambulist, who had an inflammation of the left lobe of 
the lungs, said she saw very well, and as if with her eyes, the 
organs of her chest, and, in fact, gave a very remarkable descrip- 
tion of them. The heart, said she, is enveloped by a membrane 
to which it does not adhere ; it receives seven vessels, two of 
which, appearing largest, were agitated by a peculiar movement 
The disordered lobe appeared very red, resembling the liver in 
some parts, and presenting grayish spots in several others. The 
healthy lobe had a rosy appearance. In proportion as the inflam- 
mation diminished, she saw less and less clearly, and finally could 
not see at all. There was a relapse, and lucidity returned ; but 
it was limited to the diseased lobe, the other organs being no 
more seen. Georget observed several facts of the same kind. 

"The therapeutic resources of his somnambulists presented 
nothing very remarkable. They rarely employed any but those 
remedies which were daily made use of in their presence — bleed- 
ing, leeches, baths, moxas, blisters, and few potions. He always 
administered every thing they prescribed for themselves, and never 
had reason to repent of doing it. 'It was curious,' says he, 'to 
see them, when awake, exclaim against their own prescriptions 
while blisters or moxas were in preparation.' One of them, 

* See note on transmission of pain. 



APPENDIX. 323 

however, caused eighteen or twenty moxas to be applied to her- 
self, several setons or issues, and a great number of blisters, in 
the space of eighteen months. 

" Georget could, at pleasure, deprive his somnambulists of sen- 
sation. The skin was totally insensible to the lively irritation 
of hot water deeply charged with ground mustard-seed, and even 
to the burning of the moxa — a burning and irritation which 
were extremely painful, when, by his will, the skin resumed its 
sensibility. 

"He suspended the muscular power of his somnambulists with 
the same success, sometimes in one part, and sometimes in an- 
other, and sometimes in all. . One day, he tried this power upon 
the respiratory muscles, and he produced such an immobility of 
the thorax, and such danger of suffocation, as very much to alarm 
himself, and make him determine to attempt nothing of the kind 
again. He says that, if one were to recall a patient from the 
somnambulic state without having restored motion to the mus- 
cles, and their proper faculties to the senses, a paralysis of the 
muscles and of sensation will continue.* Nothing could equal 
the surprise and fright which such a phenomenon caused to a 
person who experienced it for the first time, whether it were the 
loss of hearing, of speech, or of motion. ' The most singular 
phenomenon, and the most worthy of attention,' continues Geor- 
get, ; relates to the foreknowledge of organic action, more or less 
distant in point of time. J have seen, positively seen, a great many 
times, somnambulists announce, several hours, several days, twenty 
days beforehand, the hour, the minute, even, of the attack of epilep- 
tic and hystencjits, and of the menstrual eruptions, and indicate the 
duration and the intensity of the attacks — things which were exactly 
verified.'' 

"Six months after writing this article, he had observed many 
other new and extraordinary facts. He promised, in a note, to 
report an instance in the chapter on epilepsy ; but when, in his 
second volume, he traced the history of that disease, he added 
that the reason which had made him defer the publication of 
these phenomena to the article on magnetism, induced him to 
put it off to another period. He says, nevertheless, the person to 
whom he referred had displayed to him instances of prevision 
and clairvoyance so astonishing, that he had never read any 
thing so extraordinary, in any work on magnetism, not even in 
those of Petetin. 

"This somnambulist, Petronille, declared that a great fright 
would cure her. After she had been thrown into one, she as- 

* I have the authority of two magnetizers, in this place, to state this 
fact as having fallen within their own practice ; but the subjects, on being 
plunged again into the magnetic state, were relieved, and then were 
awakened free from pain. 



324 APPENDIX. 

sured her friends, while in somnambulism, that she was radically 
cured. In fact, she experienced no new attack during three 
months, while before she used to have two every day. 

" The author of ' Cures effected in France,'' states, in his first 
volume, page 259, that this patient, Petronille, said, one day, to 
Dr. Londe, one of the French physicians sent into Poland to 
observe the cholera, that in fifteen days he would have an affair 
of honor, and would be wounded. Dr. Londe consigned this 
fact to his memorandum, without attaching importance to it ; and 
he appeared to have forgotten it, when, fifteen days afterwards, 
he received a sword-cut from the hand of one of his associates. 

" In the ' Physiology of the Nervous System,'' Georget makes no 
mention of the names of his somnambulists, nor of the place 
where he made his experiments, nor of the numerous witnesses,, 
physicians, and others, who were convinced, like himself. l It is 
because,'' says he, ' we live in an age when it is permitted to conceal 
our belief in magnetism. 1 

" How shall we reconcile this timidity with the courageous hom- 
age which, in his work, he renders to all useful discoveries, and 
especially to magnetism ? The true reason of his reserve and 
his silence was, the fear of displeasing those who had the admin- 
istration of the hospitals, who had severely interdicted all essays 
of that nature. He proposed to publish, at some future day, more 
in detail, if his time should permit him, the result of his observa- 
tions. He expressed his desire to me, in the last interview I had 
with him ; he wished to recommence his experiments, and give 
himself up wholly to new researches. 'For I am persuaded,' 
said he to me, ' that great truths have escaped observers ; but, 
far from accusing them of exaggeration, I rather believe they 
have, in their recitals, kept below the reality. I believe, for 
example, that there is no perfect mode of treatment but that which 
somnambulists prescribe for themselves ; and that it is possible to 
render their admirable instinct serviceable to others. In one disease, 
[fluxion de poitrine,) every physician knows that bleeding is ne- 
cessary, but he does not know the precise moment of the opera- 
tion, at what vein it ought to be done, and the exact quantity of 
blood it is necessary to draw, &c.' 

" He then read to me the details of his first experiment at the 
Salpetriere. The woman whom he magnetized became somnam- 
bulous, and, in the midst of great agitation, told him that, at a 
certain period, she would be attacked by a serious disease, and 
die of it, at such a day and such an hour. Georget, not then 
knowing any works in which facts of this kind were mentioned, 
and ignorant that somnambulists could themselves give the means 
of turning aside the effects of their previsions, believed it must of 
necessity be accomplished. Full of terror and grief, he hastened 
to awake her ; and, at the time indicated, she fell a victim to the 
disease which she had foreseen. 



APPENDIX. 325 

" Georget died at the commencement of a career so brilliantly 
begun, in the midst of the labors he had sketched out for him- 
self, and of his dreams of the future. All the physiological facts 
which he had observed with so much care, are probably lost to 
science ; for, since his death, no person has spoken of publish- 
ing the notes which he left. But he himself rendered a last, a 
striking homage to the principles of magnetism, by these words 
inserted in his will: 'I will not finish this document without 
adding to it an important declaration. In 1821, in my work on 
the " Physiology of the Nervous System" I proudly professed mate- 
rialism. The preceding year, I had published a treatise on " Mad- 
ness" in which are laid down principles contrary to, or at least 
different from the ideas in agreement with, the general belief, 
(pp. 48, 51, 52, 1 14 ;) and hardly had I published the " Physiology 
of the Nervous System" when new meditations upon a very ex- 
traordinary phenomenon — somnambulism — would permit me no 
longer to doubt of the existence in us, and out of us, of an intel- 
ligent principle, altogether different from material existences. It 
is, if you please, the soul and God. In regard to this matter, / 
have a profound conviction, founded upon facts which are not to be 
controverted. This declaration will not see the light, until no one 
can doubt its sincerity or suspect my intentions. If I cannot 
publish it myself, I urgently entreat the persons who may take 
notice of it, at the opening of the present testament, that is to 
say, after my death, to give it all the publicity possible. March 
1,1826'" 



NOTE XXX. 

FROM MOSES B. LOCKWOOD. 

" Respected Friend : In the appendix to the second part of 
thy translation of ' Deleuze's Practical Instruction? I notice a 
number of cures that have been either wholly or partially ef- 
fected through the agency of animal magnetism. It seems de- 
sirable to record as many cases of this kind as facts will permit. 
If an unbeliever be told of an individual who, after being mag- 
netized, has ceased to be afflicted by a malady that had been 
hanging about him perhaps for years, he will be very likely to 
reply, 'It wasn't magnetism; it will happen so sometimes.' 
Chance, however, can only be brought to bear against solitary 
instances. By multiplying cases, retreat, under cover of 'It will 
happen so sometimes,' will be cut off. 

" It is for this reason that 1 take additional pleasure in comply- 
ing with thy request. 

« q < q####^ f or f our or £ ve w i n t erS) hag been subject to the 

28 



326 APPENDIX. 

croup, (as he, and those who have attended him, termed it,) so that 
scarcely the space of two weeks, during either of these winters, 
elapsed, without his becoming an inmate of the nursery, until 
the 12th month, 13th day, 1836, when T magnetized him, not only 
wishing to put him asleep, hut also to cure his disease. No med- 
icine was used ; yet he has not had a return of it since. 

" The following facts go to show that ' the phenomena of ani- 
mal magnetism are not produced solely through the influence of 
the imagination.' In endeavoring to ascertain this point, in the 
early part of my experimenting, frequent occasion was taken to 
magnetize an individual when he was totally ignorant of my 
intention, and when his mind was closely engaged with other 
things. For example, when he was studiously endeavoring to 
solve some mathematical question, or to commit some passage to 
memory, I have repeatedly caused him to sleep, simply by the 
action of my will ; being, in some cases, with my face towards 
him, in some with it from him ; sometimes in the same, at others 
in a different, room ; generally in the same house, but occasion- 
ally at a much greater distance. On one occasion, we were at 
dinner, he at one table and I at another, and so situated that my 
face could not be seen by him. When I went to the table, 1 
had not even thought of magnetizing at that time ; but, as his 
mind appeared to be very far from magnetism, it seemed to be a 
very favorable opportunity to test the point; and, although no 
one around me suspected what was going on, yet, in less than 
three minutes, his head dropped upon the shoulder of the one 
that was next to him. I then awaked him, when he turned 
round, and cast a look towards me, by which I understood that 
he knew what I had been doing. In this and the other instances 
alluded to, it would be absurd to endeavor to maintain that his 
imagination produced the result. ' The phenomena of animal 
magnetism are not produced,' therefore, ' solely through the in- 
fluence of the imagination.' 

" Clairvoyance. — After putting a patient asleep, I left him for the 
purpose of ascertaining the correctness of his account of what 
was transpiring at a distance. He was in communication with 
C. W. J. With me were M. B. H. and J. C. On our return, 
after an absence of about an hour, C. W. J. informed us that the 
magnetized had traced our course ; said that I ' fell down on 
some ice in the path,' &c. He said, further, that, while we were 
returning, 'just before we came to a rope-walk, we all laughed 
very loud at something which M. B. H. told us.' He was correct 
in all these instances. 

" Respectfully, 

"MOSES B. LOCKWOOD. 

"Thomas C. Hartshorn," 



APPENDIX. 327 

NOTE XXXI. 
LETTERS FROM PHYSICIANS. 

FROM DOCTOR CUTTER, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

" Nashua, November 22, 1837. 

" Sir : The second number of your translation of Deleuze's 
work was duly received. No encomium of mine can add to its 
intrinsic merit The chapters ' on the precautions in the clwice of 
a magnetizer,' and ' magnetism applied to disease in connection with 
medicine? need only to be read to be appreciated by the moral, 
the intelligent, and the humane. As your valuable appendix is 
intended to record facts and observations made by American 
citizens, I send you a few cases. 

" Neuralgia, or Tic Douloureux. — I was called to see Miss E. 
M... of this town. The disease was confined to the right side of 
tue face, the portio dura of anatomists being diseased. This was 
of long standing. I proposed the trial of magnetism. To this 
she assented. Somnambulism occurred in a few minutes. After 
she had slept a little time, I awoke her. The pain was gone. I 
repeated magnetism several times. There has been no return of 
the pain. 

" JYeuralgia, after filling a carious tooth. — Miss D. applied to 
a skilful dental surgeon, Dr. J. M. Reed, for advice relative to a 
carious tooth. Dr. R. filled the tooth with gold foil. But, the 
nerve being exposed and very sensitive, the filling was of neces- 
sity removed. It was replaced and removed several times, the 
young lady not being able to endure the pain caused by the pres- 
sure of the gold on the sensitive and diseased nerve. All the 
branches of the trifacial nerve had become painful. After the 
tooth had been filled, she applied to me to render my aid in 
giving relief by magnetism. At the first sitting, the pain was 
completely removed, but sleep was not induced. In a little time, 
there was a partial return of the pain, and I again magnetized 
her. At this sitting, she became a lucid somnambulist ; the pain 
was entirely removed, and has not returned From the result of 
this and some other cases, I think magnetism worthy the attention 
of dental surgeons. 

"Delirium Tremens. — June 20, 1837. — Mr. S. L., afflicted 
with delirium tremens, caused by the free use of stimulating 
drinks, applied to me for medical advice, having passed several 
days and nights without sleep, and having used opiates in large 
doses without ben Q fit I tried the effect of magnetism. In a 
little time, it caused tranquillity, followed by sleep. I repeated it 
two or three times, and the man was able to resume his usual 
business. In this form of disease, when there is an increase of 



328 APPENDIX. 

action, with a diminution of the powers of the system, I think 
patients may receive much benefit from the use of magnetism. 

" Bronchitis. — Aug. 27. — Miss A. C. for two years had been 
laboring under chronic bronchitis, characterized by cough, dysp- 
noea, pain in the chest and between the shoulders. After trying 
many tilings, she consented to make trial of magnetism. She 
was magnetized several times. At each sitting, the dyspnoea, 
pain, and cough, were removed. This I could effect without 
influencing any other part of the system. The paroxysms of 
coughing and dyspnoea became less severe and less frequent, but 
her circumstances prevented her from continuing the use of 
magnetism but a little time. She is now much better, but not 
well. 

" Dyspepsia and Spinal Irritation. — Miss F. F. for some years 
had been afflicted with pain in the stomach and back, attended 
with soreness, appetite capricious, and, when food was taken, it 
caused much distress. Under the circumstances, at her request, 
I magnetized her. It caused sleep, free sweating, and complete 
relief from pain. Magnetism was repeated several times. The 
pain in the back and stomach, and distress after taking food, were 
completely removed. In this case, the patient became a lucid 
somnambulist After the disease was removed, this lady ceased 
to be a somnambulist, and was not susceptible of magnetic influ- 
ence. This is worthy of observation in using magnetism as a 
remedial agent. 

" Partial Paralysis. — A few months since, I was consulted 
by Miss S. H., who for more than four years had been troubled 
with pain in the back part of the head, and want of feeling and 
strength of the muscles on one side, something like the wry neck. 
I advised a frial of magnetism, as she had been under different 
methods of treatment, and had received no benefit. To this she 
consented. At the first sitting, imperfect sleep was induced, fol- 
lowed by very free sweating in the paralyzed part. I repeated 
magnetism several days in succession. The pain in the head 
was removed, and sensibility and mobility restored to the parts 
paralyzed. In this case, somnambulism was complete. She is 
now perfectly well. 

" Headache and Dyspepsia. — A few months since, 1 was called 
to see a lady from Chelmsford, Mass., who for some two years 
had been afflicted with much pain and heat in the stomach and 
chest, and a peculiar, heavy pain in the head, for which she had 
tried many things, and had found no relief. This case was 
attended with pallor of the skin, and great coldness of the ex- 
tremities. I made use of gentle aperient medicine, and magnet- 
ism. At the first sitting, the pain in the bead and stomach was 
much increased primarily, but this was followed in a little time 
by relief from pain, free sweating, and warmth in the skin and 
extremities. I continued to magnetize this lady for about two 



APPENDIX, 329 

weeks, once each day. The effects after each sitting were the 
same as at first ; but the primary increase of pain gradually di- 
minished, until the magnetic action was quite agreeable. The 
disease in the head, lungs, and stomach, was completely removed 
in about, three weeks ; and this lady has since remained well. 

" Hepatitis and Cephalalgia. — About three months since, Miss 
A. applied to me for medical advice relative to a pain in the head 
and the region of the liver. Her food caused much distress. 
These complaints were of some years' standing, for which she 
had taken much medicine. She had been salivated three times 
for the pain in the side, without benefit. At her request, 1 
tried magnetism. The pain in the head was completely removed 
after a tew sittings, and returned no more ; but the side was 
not bettered. I applied a blister to the right side, and con- 
tinued the use of magnetism. The pain in the region of the 
liver yielded immediately, and has not since returned. This lady 
is now perfectly well. In this case, magnetism and vesication 
mutually aided each other. 

" Chronic Inflammation of the stomach and bowels. — In the early 
part of last summer, I was applied to by Mrs. S. A. for medical 
advice. It was her desire to be magnetized. This was one of 
the most complicated cases of disease I ever saw. For more 
than ten years, this lady had been afflicted with great pain in the 
head, dizziness, want of sleep ; and so great was this, that she said 
she had not slept one night soundly for many years, and frequent- 
ly passed many nights in succession without sleep. There was 
constant pain in the left side, steady pain and soreness in the 
stomach and bowels, attended with frequent paroxysms of vomit- 
ing blood, with discharges of the same per anum. At these 
times, the tumefaction of the bowels was great, attended with 
severe pains resembling colic, retention of urine, and pain in 
voiding the same. Food, and all things taken into the stomach, 
caused great distress, if not rejected. This had been the case for 
many years. These are a few of the leading symptoms. She 
had applied to many medical men for aid, and was nothing bet- 
tered. 

" I commenced the treatment by trying the power of magnet- 
ism. At the third sitting, complete magnetic sleep was produced. 
1 continued this for some days, and I found that her rest became 
better, the cephalic and abdominal pains less severe. After some 
little time, I ceased magnetizing this lady myself, and Mrs. Cutter 
commenced magnetizing her. From time to time, I gave such 
medicines as the case seemed to require, with external counter- 
irritation. Mrs. A. became a lucid somnambulist, examined her- 
self, and directed such things as she said would be of benefit 
These prescriptions I followed, as they appeared to me to be 
proper. She is now comparatively well. She sleeps well, and has 
been able to eat any thing for months without uneasiness or pain. 
26* 



330 APPENDIX. 

The pain and dizziness in her head very much lessened. The 
pain, with discharges of blood from the stomach and bowels, is 
entirely removed. The urinary trouble is much relieved. Within 
a few days, she examined herself when in the magnetic state. 
She said that magnetism had been of great benefit to her, but 
that the medicine she had taken had been very important. She 
said that the blood vomited came from a sore in the stomach, and 
not from the bowels, as I had supposed ; and that this was cured 
by magnetism and a particular medicine, and that it was now 
completely well. This, she says, was the cause of the food's dis- 
tressing her. She says there are eight large scars on the inside 
of the bowels, where there were sores for a long time. She says 
the bladder is small, and will never be well ; but it is now some- 
what better. She has been uniform in her assertions at the dif- 
ferent times she has examined herself. I might mention that she 
says her head has been much benefited by magnetism, but is not 
well, and never will be. She said her side would be well ; and 
such is the case at this time. In this case, I think the union of 
medicine and magnetism has been very happy, and the results 
highly satisfactory in removing a mass of disease which many 
good judges had deemed incurable. This and some other cases 
treated by me this season, fully sustain many of the remarks of 
the excellent Deleuze in his chapter on the connection of magnet- 
ism with medicine, and in that on somnambulism. 
"Yours, &c, 

"CALVIN CUTTER. 
" Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn." 



FROM THE SAME. 

"Nashua, November 29, 1837. 

" Sir : The following observations are at your disposal ; do with 
them as you may think proper. It is known to the observing 
physician and others, that we frequently meet with diseases in 
which there is a local increase of vital power or action. These 
are, in general, characterized by preternatural heat, arterial throb- 
bing, swelling, and frequently pain, commonly termed inflamma- 
tion. We also meet with diseases in which there is an apparent 
diminution of the local, and, it may be, general vital forces, dis- 
tinguished by a diminution of heat, arterial action, and contrac- 
tion of the size of the parts, commonly seen in cases of paralysis 
and debilitating diseases. Now, it is obvious to any person, 
that, in most cases, a remedy producing the same uniform effects 
would not be proper in the two above-named classes of disease. 
Ceteris paribus, if it benefited the one, it would injure the 
other. Consequently, if the magnetizer cannot modify the effects 
of the influence which he may exert, he cannot benefit diseases 



APPENDIX. 331 

of a sthenic and asthenic character by this agent It will be 
seen by my remarks, that I think it highly necessary for the mag- 
netizer to be a person well acquainted with the causes and char- 
acter of diseases, or that he should act under the direction of 
some person who has this knowledge. Magnetism should not be 
used at hap-hazard to cure diseases by every ignorant person, or 
any ignorant person who may by chance have learned that he 
has this natural and inherent power. If this care is pursued, 
magnetism may continue reputable and useful. In relation to 
the ability which I possess of modifying this influence, so as to 
cause, by my ivill alone, either sedative, stimulant, or soporific 
effects, I have been making observations for some time, and upon 
different persons, and am satisfied that it can be done, although 
difficult To accomplish it easily, I am obliged to keep in mind 
the relative anatomy of the different parts of the system, particu- 
larly that of the nervous system. The following are my observa- 
tions on this point : — 

" About the middle of November, I accidentally met a lad in 
the street a son of Mr. Wm. Lovejoy, who was obliged to use two 
crutches in consequence of a complete paralysis of one leg, from 
the hip downward. He is about seven years old, and has been 
in this state more than rive years. It is said to have followed, 
and to have been caused by, a severe fever. He could move the 
toes of the diseased limb a very little. He was brought to my 
office, and I took one of his hands, and held it a little time, and 
then passed my fingers over his arm a few times, with the inten- 
tion to paralyze his arm. I then asked him to move his arm, and 
he could not There had been nothing said relative to magnet- 
ism in his presence, and consequently imagination was not on 
the alert A short time after, I saw the boy at Mr. Lovejoy's 
house. Without making any remarks concerning my desires, 1 
took his hand, with the intention to put the boy to sleep. In 
about one minute, he was in a profound sleep. In a short time, I 
awoke him, and then passed my fingers over the diseased limb 
several times. This limb is always cold. After being magnet- 
ized as above named, I examined the limb, and found it of an 
icy coldness, and no mobility in the toes. 

"On the following day, I again called, and found the limb with 
its wonted coldness. I then magnetized, with the intention of 
removing the coldness without causing the least loss of motion. 
In a few minutes, the limb became quite warm, as much so as the 
other, with some moisture, and he could move the toes much more 
freely. In the experiments on the limb, the head was not affected 
In these different experiments, the lad and those present were 
not made aware of my intention until after magnetizing. 

" I have obtained similar results on many different persons ; 
but the above I deem satisfactory, as the age and circumstances 
of the lad, and his entire ignorance of magnetism, preclude the 



332 APPENDIX. 

probability of that active and almost universal agent, imagination, 
being in the field of this experiment 

"CALVIN CUTTER. 
"Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn." 

FROM DOCTOR CLEVELAND. 

"Pawtuxet. December 10, 1837. 

"Dear Sir: On the 31st of May last, I was called to see 

Mis. , a lady about fifty years old, whom I found laboring 

under a violent inflammation of the chest On the 3d of June, 
her symptoms became alarming. At a consultation of physicians, 
her case was considered quite hopeless. Her pulse was inter- 
mitting, her extremities cold ; she had a partial delirium, a wake- 
fulness that had continued forty-eight hours, restlessness, and 
extreme distress in the system generally, and especially in the 
chest Further attempts were made to procure sleep, which, as 
heretofore, proved unavailing. Opium, in its various preparations, 
was resorted to, both internally and externally, with no other 
effect than aggravation of suffering. From idiosyncrasy, she was 
never able to procure rest from this drug. At the expiration of 
twelve hours, I found her appearance still worse, symptoms of 
mortification being more decided. 

" Under the circumstances, I was induced to magnetize her, 
though I had but slight hopes of affording relief. At the end of 
thirty minutes, I threw her into a quiet sleep. My own surprise 
was surpassed by that of her friends, who were entirely ignorant 
of the cause of her sudden and unexpected relief. She awoke at 
the end of two hours, without exhibiting any particular change in 
her appearance, except a greater regularity of the pulse. In a 
few hours, she was magnetized again, and warmth was restored 
to the extremities ; the circulation was also improved. 

" She was magnetized a third time, and awoke twenty-four 
hours after the first operation, with her reason perfectly restored. 
From this time, her disease assumed a more favorable turn. She 
was occasionally magnetized with much relief, until her natural 
sleep was restored, and recovery ensued. 

" Not much doubt can exist as to the cause of the changes 
which took place during the twenty hours alluded to above, as 
no other means than magnetism was made use of during that 
time ; and without this, it is more than probable that the case 
would have terminated fatally. 

" On the 31st of August of the present year, I was called upon 
to attend Mrs. , # who was suffering a severe and deep-seated 

* The translator had conversed with the husband of this lady, a respect- 
able trader of this city, in relation to this case, before he received Dr. C.'s 
account of it, which confirms that gentleman's statement. 



APPENDIX. 333 

pain in the breasts, arising from a scrofulous affection. Although 
there was no obstruction to the flow of milk upon the application 
of the child or of the pump, yet the pain produced by them was 
almost insupportable. The ordinary means had been resorted to, 
but not successfully even in the slightest degree. Her sufferings, 
on the contrary, were daily increased, until other organs, from 
a peculiar sympathy well known to nursing women, became 
affected to such a degree, that the application of the child or of 
the pump induced such violent spasms, that it became absolutely 
necessary to abandon the use of both as the means of removing 
the superabundance of milk. 

" Recourse was had to magnetism. Sleep was produced in 
forty minutes, and sensibility so far suspended that, instead of its 
requiring several persons to confine her to the bed, as heretofore, 
while attempting to nurse the child, she expressed the greatest 
delight while it was nursing, turned her face towards it, (her eyes 
being closed,) and caressed and fondled it in the most affection- 
ate manner. I cautioned her to retain a knowledge of her im- 
pressions when she awoke, to which she replied, ' You need not 
fear ; I never shall forget them ! ' 

"It being necessary for me to leave her, I asked her how long 
she would sleep ; to which she promptly replied, 'A week ! ' 

" Her friends being unwilling that I should leave her in the 
magnetic state, I remained two hours, during which time her 
sleep was uninterrupted. I then left her, with the assurance that 
I would return as soon as possible. About six hours afterwards, 
I found her suffering, though less severely than before. The 
same pleasant effects followed in the second magnetic sleep, into 
which she was immediately thrown. After directing some neces- 
sary arrangements for the night, I put her in communication with 
her husband and the nurse, and retired, leaving a request that I 
should be called if occasion required it. 

" On calling again the next morning at five o'clock, she was 
still in the magnetic state, having been so seven hours, although 
she had been removed to another bed, had taken refreshments sev- 
eral times herself, and attended duly to the demands of her child. 

"Her sufferings from this time became less severe, although 
permanent relief was not obtained until a suppuration had taken 
place in one of her breasts. 

" Yours, 

« THOMAS CLEVELAND. 

" Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 

FROM DOCTOR UTLEY. 

"Providence, October 13, 1837. 

"Dear Sir: I feel that I should do injustice to withhold 
some facts that have recently come under my observation, apper- 



334 



APPENDIX. 



taining to the subject in which you are interested. Notwith- 
standing my former skepticism in reference to this matter, I must, 
when constrained by incontrovertible evidence, own myself a be- 
liever. 

" After having heard much from credible authority, and wit- 
nessed some astounding facts myself in two cases, I resolved, if 
a favorable opportunity ever presented, to ascertain whether I 
had the power of effecting what is denominated the magnetic 
sleep ; and, in compliance with your request, I submit to your dis- 
posal the detail of the following case : — 

"Mrs. W. C. is about twenty-six years of age. Her health 
had been very feeble several months, and she had been most of 
the time under medical treatment. One day, as I was leaving 
the room of the patient, I was requested by several of those who 
were present, among whom was the husband and mother, together 
with the patient, to magnetize her ; they having reference to the 
operation as a remedy for her restless nights, and violent pain in 
the head, with which she had been afflicted several weeks. In 
answer to them, I acknowledged my inexperience in the subject. 
However, after they had repeated their importunities, with an 
evident expression of skepticism depicted in their countenances, 
I asked the patient if she was sincere in her request. She said 
she was willing I should make the trial, although she was skepti- 
cal in regard to it. 

" Thus privileged, I made a persevering effort by manipulating, 
accompanied with concentration of thought, and all the benevo- 
lent and pure emotions I was capable of feeling towards a fellow- 
being, at the same time somewhat faithless in regard to my 
success ; but determined to make a thorough trial. After manip- 
ulating about twenty minutes, I discovered in the patient an in- 
clination to close the eyes. This appearance evidenced nothing 
more than an inclination to natural sleep, as would be consequent 
upon soothing the nervous system in this manner. After contin- 
uing the manipulations about ten minutes more, her chest heaved 
with a sigh, and she completely closed her eyes as in a natural 
sleep. Still doubting my success as to its being a magnetic 
sleep, I thought I would test it. I passed my right hand at a 
distance from her left, and willed her to take my hand. She as 
promptly obeyed as though she had consented to a verbal request 
I became convinced that a magnetic sleep was produced. I 
then, to satisfy myself and others present that there was no de- 
ception on her part, bandaged her eyes with several thicknesses 
of a handkerchief, with portions of it placed upon the inner can- 
thus next the nose, which precaution rendered it impossible for 
her, under any circumstances, to use her natural organs of sight 
I then brought my hands together at a distance from hers, and 
rotated my thumbs over each other, with a mental request that 
she should do likewise, which desire she as promptly obeyed as 



APPENDIX. 



335 



though she had seen the motion of my thumbs with her naked 
eyes, and heard my voice with her natural organs of hearing. I 
then reversed the motion of my thumbs, and every motion and 
position of my hands, thumbs, ringers, and arms, was responded 
to by her in obedience to my will, as though they had been di- 
rected and moved by my own muscles and powers of volition. I 
then tried her powers of speech, and asked her if her head was 
free from pain. She said it was. I asked her if she felt comfort- 
able in every other respect. She said she did. I then tested her 
discerning powers. I held my watch to the back of her head, 
and requested her to tell which side of it was next to her head. 
She answered correctly. ' Can you discern the hands of my 
watch ? ' ' Yes.' ' Will you tell me what time it is ? ' She an- 
swered, but not correctly, within several minutes. I then asked 
her if she could see the clock, which was in an adjoining room. 
It was impossible for the patient, or any others in the room where 
we were, to see it with natural vision. She said she could see it. 
'Can you see the hands of the clock ?' ' Yes.' 'Will you tell me 
the time by it?' She told to a minute. The same questions in 
reference to the time, by the clock, were repeated in the course 
of her sleep, and answered correctly. I then requested her to 
tell me how many persons there were present in the room. 
She hesitated about long enough to count them, and answered 
correctly. I asked her in what position, and what part of the 
room, certain individuals were. She told correctly. 1 promiscu- 
ously placed the hands of those present in hers, and requested 
her to designate and call by name the person whose hand she 
had hold of. She told correctly, with one or two exceptions, 
which mistakes were corrected on asking the question the second 
time ; and, after various other experiments, to test the magnetic 
vision, I requested her to wake at such a minute by my watch. 
She passed over the appointed time about five minutes, with all 
the appearances of rousing from her usual sleep. I asked her 
if she felt refreshed from her recent sleep. Said she, ' I feel re- 
freshed, and free from pain in my head, but have not been in a 
natural sleep. I have been in an indescribable state, and felt 
perfectly obedient to what you desired me to do, but cannot now 
recollect what particular requests you made when I was in that 
state.' 

"This want of recollection corresponds with other reports 
upon the subject; for I did not will her to remember the experi- 
ments that were performed. After informing her of some aston- 
ishing facts in regard to them, she expressed doubts of the 
propriety of putting one into such a state, and manifested an un- 
willingness ever to be magnetized again ; but, taking into consid- 
eration its remedial effects in her case, I thought I should do 
right to insist upon a repetition, and obtained the privilege but 
three subsequent times, the fourth and last time in the presence 



336 APPENDIX. 

of Dr. Miller, who had been my consulting physician in the 
case ; and for further information and evidence in regard to these 
experiments and others instituted by himself, you are referred to 
him for testimony.* 

" Yours, with much esteem, 

"L. UTLEY. 
" Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 

FROM DOCTOR TOOTHAKER. 

" Cambridgeport, December 6, 1837. 
"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn : 

" Dear Sir : Yours of the 2d instant was duly received ; 
since which my engagements have been such, that, till the present 
moment, I have had no opportunity of answering it. I am perfect- 
ly willing to furnish you with any facts within my knowledge, on 
the subject of animal magnetism, which are of a character suited 
to a popular work. The detail of some cures, in which I have 
used it successfully as a remedy, would be better suited to the 
columns of a medical journal, where they may at some future 
time appear. 

" My attention was directed particularly to the subject of ani- 
mal magnetism, nearly a year since, by the urgent solicitation 
of a literary friend, that I should read the report of the French 
Academy. I was, at first, entirely incredulous, and unwilling 
even to read attentively. But 1 soon found there was testimony 
of such a character in its favor, as to demand of every physician 
a candid examination of the subject. Further to satisfy myself 
of the reality of the alleged phenomena, I commenced experi- 
ments upon a girl, aged about sixteen, in whose case idiocy and 
mania were combined. I thought her a favorable subject for ex- 
periments, as there was no possibility of deception. After two or 
three sittings, I succeeded in producing evident drowsiness, as 
was apparent to all present. She gaped several times, dreuled, 
and presented other phenomena, common harbingers to sleep. 
When in this state, she will always start suddenly, as if to re- 
lieve herself of its spell, and has never gone into a sound mag- 
netic sleep. On one occasion, she immediately after left the 
room, and went up stairs into her sleeping chamber alone, which 
she had never before done in her life. 

" These experiments, made on such a subject, so far convinced 
me of the reality of a natural power of this kind, given to man 

* Her complaint was dyspepsia, and her stomach was apt to reject her 
food a short time after eating. But after being magnetized, it appears to 
have acquired, in a greater measure, the power of retaining nutriment. 
She also slept without the anodynes which she had formerly taken. 

Dr. Miller sent her to examine a patient of his, and her description 
of the disorder was strikingly correct. 



APPENDIX. 337 

by his Creator, that I determined to test it by further experi- 
ments, when opportunity offered. I consequently soon tried the 
manipulations on a young lady of lymphatic temperament, and 
plethoric habit, who was in rather poor health at the time. At 
the second or third sitting, a tolerably sound magnetic sleep was 
produced, yet she never became a somnambulist, strictly, and 
would wake if I conversed much with her. 

" The third subject of my experiments, Mrs. M., who was an 
entire unbeliever in it, became a somnambulist by three or four 
sittings. I am certain she is capable of receiving impressions, 
when in the magnetic state, by the will alone. April 13th, mag- 
netized her the sixth time. While she was eating a seed-cake, 
I willed to have it taste bitter, without saying a word or making 
a sign. She immediately said, ' It is as sour as swill,' and threw 
it away. She soon after said, 'It is bitter.' I gave her a piece 
of wheat bread to eat, and ivilled it to be brown bread. I then 
asked what kind of bread it was ; she said, ' Brown.' 

"April 20th. — Magnetized her in presence of several literary 
gentlemen of this place. The experiments were proposed by 
them, singly, to me, in another room, that there might be no pos- 
sibility of her hearing. I gave her an empty tumbler, and asked 
her to drink some lemonade ; at the same time I willed it to be 
tea. She made the motions of drinking, and said, 'It tastes sick- 
ish.' 'What is it?' ' Tea,' she answered. Also by will made an 
apple taste bitter, and, soon after, sweet as honey. These and 
other similar experiments were entirely satisfactory to those gen- 
tlemen who proposed them, though they were previously some- 
what incredulous. 

"May 2d. — Magnetized the same patient. There were pres- 
ent Drs. J. V. C. Smith,* editor of the ' Medical and Surgical 
Journal,' and Leland, of Boston. Standing at some distance 
from her, I willed her to wake. She said, ' Don't be willing me 
to wake.' Dr. Smith wrote for me to have a pleasant apple she 
was eating taste like a cranberry. She immediately said, 'It 
tastes very sour;' and, after much solicitation to tell what it 
tasted like, she said, ' Cranberry. I knew before, but would not 
tell, you are always asking so many questions.' 

" With respect to clairvoyance, I am perfectly satisfied she has 
at times seen objects that she could not possibly have seen when 
awake. But, as she complains of severe headache after much 
effort to see, and my principal object has been the restoration of 
her health, I seldom urge her with experiments of this kind. At 
one time, she sat with her back towards the door of another 
room, and a lady present passed through the door, and selected 

* Dr. Smith had given me some account of these experiments, previous 
to my writing to Dr. Toothaker. Many physicians in Boston and its vi- 
cinity are engaged in investigating the utility of Mesmerism as an auxil- 
iary in medical treatment. — Trans. 

29 



338 APPENDIX, 

a book from a large number that were upon the bureau, which; 
she brought, privately, and held over the head of Mrs. M., then 
in magnetic sleep. I asked her what was held over her head> 
She said, 'A book,' and afterwards told the title. There was no- 
leading question put to elicit the answer, nor could I think of 
any circumstance by which she would be induced to 'guess 
right' I must therefore infer that she did actually see it To 
this some may object, and suppose that I informed her mentally, 
or by the will. I answer, it was impossible, as I avoided seeing 
it myself till she told what it was. 

"June 17th. — Magnetized Mrs. M. She examined. a gentleman 
who was in poor health, and told correctly his disease, though of 
such a character that I could not have detected it by any exter- 
nal examination ; and I knew nothing of it, even by conjecture, 
till she told. I was informed by them both that she knew nothing 
of it before, and must infer that she saw it, as she said she did. 
It was a disease of a portion of the alimentary canal, for which 
he had formerly been under treatment at the Massachusetts Gen- 
eral Hospital a long time. 

"I can establish a communication between her and others, either 
by will or by contact. This I have done with six or eight per- 
sons at a time, having them join hands. I have been careful to 
ascertain that a communication may thus be established without 
the aid of the will. In support of the theory of some physiolo- 
gists, that there is a nervous fluid, of an extremely subtile char- 
acter, by the agency of which the brain and the nerves are 
enabled to perform their peculiar functions, I will add, that a 
much longer time is requisite to establish a communication with 
several persons than with one ; and it is not destroyed for about 
the same length of time after I let go the hand of the one farthest 
from the somnambulist. It likewise requires a longer time to 
establish a communication with some persons than with others. 
This part of the subject, however, needs further investigation 
than I have yet been able to give it 

" Mrs. M. has been afflicted with painful affections of a dis- 
tressing character, and chronic disease, which seemed to bid 
defiance to the whole catalogue of remedies in the materia med- 
ica, but which have been much relieved by the use of magnetism 
as a remedy. In truth, she seems to be fast recovering the health 
of former years- 

"The fourth subject on whom I experimented, was put into the 
somnambulic state at the second trial. I have, in this case, once 
or twice, obtained decided evidence in favor of clairvoyance. 
She was in the magnetic sleep — her eyes closed. I took a 
newspaper from my pocket, I had just got at the office, and 
handed it to her. She began to read it A lady present then 
so blinded her eyes as to be perfectly certain she could not 
see the least thing if awake, and yet she continued to read. I 



APPENDIX. 339 

'could not have informed her mentally, for I had not read it ; and 
she afterwards told me she had not before seen it. I have fre- 
quently relieved this patient of intense pain by the use of mag- 
netism. A short time before she was magnetized, she applied to 
me for advice, assuring me that, for nearly or quite a year previ- 
ously, she had been afflicted with a constant headache, and had 
used leeches and other remedies, without much effect After 
being magnetized a few times, she said her headache was cured. 
It was six or eight months since, and she has had no return of a 
permanent headache. 

"I have magnetized several other individuals of both sexes. 
A little boy, aged five years, was put into a profound sleep in 
fifteen minutes, at the first trial. Also, two little girls were mag- 
netized about as easily ; but with none of these have the exper- 
iments been continued. A young man was so far magnetized, 
the first trial, that he was utterly unable to keep his eyes open, 
hut did not sleep. The same effect, with slight sleep, was pro- 
d -ced upon a gentleman who is engaged in investigating the 
subject. Probably further experiments would produce the state 
of somnambulism in him. 

"I have one other distinct ease of somnambulism; but I could 
add nothing new with regard to it that would be of special 
interest. 

" I have, in this statement of facts relative to magnetic phe- 
nomena, and the cure of diseases, far out-written my own pre- 
scribed limits. I have necessarily written hastily, but with an 
ardent desire that the whole truth may be known relative to so 
mysterious and deeply-interesting a subject, I submit it to your 
il. 
" I am, dear sir, 

" Very truly yours, 

"SAMUEL A. TOOTHAKER." 



FROM MONSIEUR B. F. BUGARD.* 

" Boston, November 10, 18S7. 
"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn: 

"Dear Sir: I have just received your favor of the 7th 
inst Only two of my cases have been published. One of these 

* Mons. Bugard is now attending lectures in Boston, with the design 
of entering the medical profession. And, as his course of preparatory 
studies will soon be finished, he has a right to be placed here among the 
physicians who have been so kind as to furnish the communications em- 
braced in this note. He will have the advantage of carrying into his pro- 
fession the practice of magnetism, which places one more agent in the 
hands of medical men — calculated not to supersede the use of remedies, but 
to aid their operation. If any one desires to know how far this practice 



340 APPENDIX. 

was the first given to the public in this part of the country — that 
of Mrs. Russell, of this city, which appeared in the ' Boston Med- 
ical and Surgical Journal,' of the precise date of which I am ig- 
norant, and I have no copy to send you. 

"Although I am much interested in the subject, I am sorry 
to be obliged to say that I have been prevented from devoting 
to it the attention it deserves. The little information I can 
give you shall be cheerfully granted. It will consist of a few 
facts only. As to the names of the persons alluded to in them, 
I do not feel authorized to give more than the initial letters for 
publication; but, on personal application, I shall be happy to give 
any one whatever proofs he may desire. 

" One day, in the fall of 1835, 1 was requested to magnetize 
Mrs. R., a widow lady of almost forty years of age, who had 
been, for several years, afflicted with the tic douloureux in the 
lower part of the spine, and with palpitations of the heart When 
I went to see her, she had not for a fortnight left her chamber, 
which was in the fourth story, and she could not move, without 
assistance, from her bed to her chair, or from her chair to her bed. 
She wished to be magnetized because all other remedies had 
proved of no avail ; but, being entirely ignorant of what magnet- 
ism is, she had merely fallen in with the suggestion of some one 
that it might prove beneficial to her. After I had magnetized her 
only three times, she was so much better that she was able to go 
down into her kitchen, and attend to her daily occupations. 
At the fourth or fifth sitting, she became a somnambulist. Her 
health improved so much and so rapidly, that, on the day suc- 
ceeding the seventh sitting, although she was not perfectly 
cured, she found herself so well that she went on a visit to 
Salem, where some of her relations resided. 

"One day, after putting this lady into somnambulism, I re- 
quested her daughter, a girl about nine years of age, to speak to 
her. She addressed her mother several times, calling aloud; but, 
receiving no answer, she burst into tears, thinking her mother to 
be dead. I took her little hand, and, placing it in the hand of 
her mother, told her to speak to her again. Her mother imme- 
diately answered her call, and the countenance of the child 
Deamed with joy at the certainty of her being alive. 

" This lady was prevailed upon to take another magnetizer, 

obtains in the north of Europe, he will find a brief account, and some 
references to foreign authorities, in the work of Dr. Poyen, recently pub- 
lished, entitled "Progress of Animal Magnetism in ISiew England" — -a 
work which, from the great variety of facts which it contains, is highly 
interesting, and, from the great number of respectable names avouching 
them, is worthy of confidence. Of Dr. Poyen's fidelity, those who know 
him well do not entertain a doubt. He labors under the disadvantage of 
having introduced a subject entirely new to the unlettered, and of haying 
been most liberally vilified by men who misunderstood his character. 



APPENDIX. 341 

because I refused to make her an object of exhibition to the 
•curious. But her health, instead of improving, grew worse, and 
her new magnetizer, Dr. D., who magnetized her merely for the 
purpose of making experiments, would have unmercifully sent 
her to the grave, had she not refused to continue the treatment 
I mention this circumstance, because it affords a striking proof 
of what is observed by Deleuze, in his 'Practical Instruction,' as 
well as by other authors, relative to the dangers that frequently 
•attend the change of a former successful magnetizer. 

" Last summer was a year since I was requested to magnetize 
Mrs. F., who, with other affections, had a pain between the 
shoulders. At the second sitting, she experienced a sensation 
like the pain moving about, following the motion of my hands. 
She soon lost herself in a sleep, or at least in a partial sleep, and 
I left her. The pain left her too, for she felt it no more. 

li At another time, this lady was suffering from the tic doulou- 
reux in the face. In the afternoon, when I came in to give a 
lesson in French to her two daughters, she was in the same room 
with us, and in such an agony that I offered to relieve her by 
the use of magnetism. She assented to the trial. She had been 
magnetized hardly ten minutes, when I thought she was sound 
asleep; but she opened her eyes, and said that her pain had sub- 
sided. I then left her, to attend to the French lessons, which 
being finished, I requested one «f the young ladies to see how 
her mother was, she having retired into another room. She went, 
and returned, saying that her mother was entirely free from pain. 
I understand that she has not been attacked since, though she 
had formerly suffered pretty often. 

" About a year ago, I had occasion to magnetize Mrs. L., a 
French lady, Avho, for many years, had been afflicted with violent 
periodical headaches, with excessive vomitings, and some more se- 
rious affections. The day after the first sitting, she felt much bet- 
ter, and she continued to improve very rapidly. However, on the 
morning of the sixth or seventh day of her treatment, at about ten 
o'clock, her husband came to tell me that his wife had a violent 
headache, and a very great disposition to vomit I immediately 
repaired to see her. She was sitting by the fire, having pre- 
pared some tea to aid the tendency. I magnetized her head 
only, before she had taken any thing. She soon felt better, and 
in half an hour the pain had almost subsided. I left her. In 
the evening, I returned, and found her very well. She said she 
had not vomited, and, at one o'clock, she had dined with a very 
good appetite. What is most to be remarked in this case is, 
that before being magnetized, whenever such a headache took 
her, it never subsided until she had vomited to exhaustion. 

" About a year ago, I was called on by Mr. H., who requested 
me to magnetize his wife. This lady was suffering severely with 
the tic douloureux in the face. She had been more or less af- 
29* 



342 APPENDIX. 

fected with it for several years, and had now suffered for several 
weeks, without rinding any relief in the remedies of the best 
physicians of this city. I magnetized her several times without 
much apparent effect during the operation, but she slept much 
better afterwards. I think she was put asleep only twice, though 
I magnetized her about fifteen times. Her health, however, was 
gradually improving ; the tic douloureux had subsided ; and last 
week she told me, in the presence of several persons, that it had 
not returned. 

" It is not quite a year since I was requested by a gentleman, 
a Mr. V., to magnetize him. For two or three years, he had had 
an affection of the stomach, and been treated as a dyspeptic. His 
physician finally declared his case to be the tic douloureux, and 
not the dyspepsia. He had been in a state of constipation for 
nearly a month. I magnetized him only five times. The day 
after the first sitting, he felt much better, and had satisfactory 
evacuations. His health improved so much that he renounced 
the project he had formed of going to Cuba for his restoration. 
1 would observe that it is not true that magnetism always has the 
effect of filling the heart with tender and grateful sentiments ; 
for this Mr. V. has not yet come to my rooms to thank me for 
the good I have done him, although he found the way thither to 
request my services. 

" One evening, last winter, 1 went to see my friends, Dr. Ben- 
jamin H. West and Dr. Ruel W. Lawton, who boarded together, 
and occupied the same room. Some refreshments were brought 
in during my visit Early in the evening, Dr. L. said to me, — 

" ' Monsieur Bugard, I know that you have magnetized several 
persons ; I wish you would give me some information on the sub- 
ject of magnetism ; I should like to have my mind satisfied ; I do 
not know what to think of it' 

" « Well,' said I, ' I can add but very little to what has been 
published on the subject ; but, if you are willing, I will try to 
magnetize you? 

" Although I think it very wrong to magnetize a person in good 
health, I made him this proposal the more readily because his con- 
stitution is rather feeble. 

" « Very well,' replied he. 

" I began to magnetize him. For a quarter of an hour, he 
seemed much inclined to laugh ; but I soon perceived I could 
produce an effect upon him. I therefore continued the manipula- 
tions, and in less than half an hour from the time of commencing 
he was perfectly asleep. Whilst he was in that state, Dr. West 
and I indulged ourselves in demolishing the refreshments. About 
a quarter of an hour had elapsed, when Dr. Lawton wildly opened 
his eyes. 

" I immediately put my right hand on the pit of his stomach, 
exerting my will to put him asleep. This was done m lees 



APPENDIX. 343 

than half a minute. Then Dr. West and I went on demolish- 
ing as before ; and ten minutes had hardly elapsed when Dr. L. 
opened his eyes upon us. 

" I again placed my right hand upon his epigastrium, and my 
left on his thigh, grasping it near the knee, putting forth the 
power of volition ; and again Dr. L. went to sleep in less than 
no time. 

" On his awaking, about ten minutes afterwards, I asked him 
what he thought then of magnetism. ' Well, sir, my skepticism 
is rather shaken,' was the reply. 

" Receive the expressions of consideration with which I am 
"Your most obedient servant, 

«B. F. BUGARD." 



FROM DOCTOR BENJAMIN HASKELL.* 

" Boston, October 20, 1837. 
"Dear Sir: I owe you an apology for not replying to 
your letter before. But the truth is, it was not in my power to 
send you any tiling satisfactory relative to the inquiries you saw 
fit to make. And, as I was in expectation of receiving some 
further details from a brother of mine residing in Gloucester, 
whom I had commissioned to make inquiries of Mr. Blatchford, 
in particular, on those points which had a bearing on animal 
magnetism, your object, as well as mine, would be best answered 
by delay. Yesterday, I heard from him ; but he had not seen, nor 
was likely to see, him for some time. When any thing comes to 
my knowledge, calculated to throw light on this intricate subject, 
I will forward it without delay, that it may obtain all the publicity 
possible. In the mean while, as you seem somewhat desirous of 
knowing my views on it, I shall take the liberty to express them 
without reserve. There is nothing unphilosophical in supposing 
that somnambulism may be induced by an agency transmitted 
from one individual to another. At the same time, whenever and 
however it takes place, it is a disease, and, like all nervous disor- 
ders, has not only a tendency to recur, but to superinduce other 
diseases of the same class. I cannot but regard the practice of 

* 1 wrote to Dr. Haskell, in relation to the case of natural somnambu- 
lism, which occurred at Gloucester, Mass., in 1834. 1 wished to ascertain 
whether the subject of that case had ever been brought under the influ- 
ence of Mesmerism, as three other similar cases have been. I deem his 
reply worthy of attention, as it embraces an opinion which is* important, 
if correct, and which deserves weight from the scientific attainments of 
him who advances it. The case of young Blatchford is given in a ccm- 
munication to the editor of the '•' Boston Medical and Surgical Journal/' of 
June 24, 1837, by Dr. Haskell. Dr. H. is also the author of an ingenious 
article on animal magnetism which appeared in the same Journal, Sep- 
tember 20, 1837. 



344 APPENDIX. 

it as injurious to those on whom it. is exercised, and, when its 
nature is fully understood, as morally wrong, except in those cases 
in which it is made use of as a remedial agent. You have my per- 
mission to insert this opinion in a note to your translation, and 
combat it if you think it erroneous. I have never magnetized 
any one, nor have I made myself acquainted with the steps by 
which it is done. The interest which I have taken in it is not 
practical, but theoretical. 

" Yours respectfully, 

«B. HASKELL. 
"Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn." 



NOTE XXXII. 
SEEING THROUGH OPAQUE SUBSTANCES. 

FROM ISAAC THURBER, ESQ. 

" Providence. November 4, 1837. 

"Dear Sir: I take the opportunity, which a few moments 
of leisure now afford me, to give you an account of a recent visit 
of Miss B., the blind young lady, to my house. As I suppose you 
to desire an account, merely, of the phenomena then exhibited 
while under the magnetic influence, I shall notice briefly the 
facts in relation to them only. Miss B. came to my house on the 
morning of the 28th of October, with a view to pass the day with 
my family : at about the close of the day, she was put into the 
magnetic sleep by Dr. C. At first, she appeared to be in a state 
entirely senseless ; from this apparent slumber she was aroused 
by having her attention directed to the objects around her. Dr. 
C. then left her in communication with myself and family, with 
directions to awake precisely at 6 o'clock. During this inter- 
val, Miss B. appeared cheerful, much disposed to converse, and, 
at times, quite playful. While in conversation, she expressed a 
desire to examine the arrangement of the house, the furniture, 
&c. In passing through the different rooms, she noticed and 
moved various articles. She was then conducted into a dark 
room, in which the largest objects could not be discerned by any 
one who was not possessed of more than ordinary powers of 
vision. On being requested to give the time by the clock which 
was in the room, she immediately stepped to the corner in which 
the clock stood, and replied, ' It is twenty-three minutes past five.' 
The answer was correct I then asked her if she saw any other 
object in the room. She replied, 'I am looking at the pictures.' 
'What pictures?' 'This one over the fireplace.' The picture 
alluded to is composed of various emblems, together with a cer 



APPENDIX. 345 

tificate of membership to an institution in this town. Miss B. 
described the emblems of justice, wealth, industry, and also the 
certificate, and mentioned the place in the picture which each 
of them occupied. When speaking of the emblem of wealth, I 
requested her to place my finger upon it On admitting light 
into the room, I found my finger pointing to a small figure repre- 
senting Wealth dispensing her gifts from the horn of plenty. I 
would here state that Miss B. was never before in this room, and 
was entirely ignorant of the furniture which it contained. 

"Having obtained the evidence of clairvoyance, I gave her a 
sealed paper containing a sentence, which I requested her to 
read. She held the paper to the side of her head for the space 
of about one minute, and then returned it to me without appa- 
rently noticing its contents. No further notice was taken of the 
letter during her sleep. Some time after she awoke, she gave 
the substance of the letter to one of my family,, This being com- 
municated to me, I requested Miss B. to write down the sentence 
inside, that it might be presented, in her own hand-writing, to a 
company that would meet with her at Mr. J. M.'s on the follow- 
ing evening ; at which time the sentence was so presented, in 
the following words: ' In these latter days, as informer times, the 
blind receive their sight.'' The letter was then brought forward, 
the seals of which until this time had not been broken, neither 
had the sentence or any part of it been communicated to any 
individual. It was opened by Rev. Mr. Stetson, of Medford, in 
presence of Rev. E. B. Hall, of this city, Mr. Jesse Metcalf, and 
a number of others, and found to contain the same sentence as 
that written by Miss B., differing only in the spelling of two words. 
The sentence was written on a slip of paper, and this placed be- 
tween two pieces of sheet lead, the whole enclosed in an envelope 
in a letter form. 

"Yours, &c, 

"ISAAC THURBER. 

"Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn." 



FROM MR. GEORGE HUNT. 

" Providence, November 22, 1837. 
"Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn: 

"Sir: Having heard much of the wonderful powers of 
Miss Brackett, under the magnetic influence, and being rather 
skeptical as to her ability to see and describe objects that were 
previously unknown to her and all who were in attendance, — 
believing, at the time, that she did not see the real object of her 
description as it existed, but the mere image of it in the mind 
of her magnatizer or in the mind of those who were in communi- 
cation with her, — I was induced to try the experiment alluded to 
in your note. 



346 APPENDIX. 

"I took a wooden box, made of half-inch stock, measuring 
eight inches by fourteen, perfectly tight, and filled it with vari- 
ous articles, curiously arranged. I presented it to Mr. Metcalf 
for Miss B.'s inspection. On inquiring about the result of her 
examination, I was informed that she took the box, and held it 
over her head, and saw a great variety of dried pressed leaves, and 
some flowers. Dr. Capron requested her to enter the box, which 
she effected through the key-hole, or the top, — I do not remember 
which, — and then mentioned two books, one pamphlet with a blue 
cover, one card, marked L. M., and a substance that looked like 
tow, which I suppose was the bird's nest made use of on this 
occasion, the greater part of which was made of tow. She said 
there were many other things in the box, but the air was so 
confined that it troubled her to breathe, and she was obliged to 
come out 

"Her description, so far as it went, was correct, except as to 
the nest. In this, however, she was correct as to the substance 
she saw. In the conclusion of her remarks on the box and con- 
tents, she seemed to think it. belonged to some old maid. The 
result of this experiment is in every way satisfactory to me, so 
far as it goes, inasmuch as no one knew the contents of the box 
except myself. Every article was packed close, so that no one 
could have formed any conception of what the box contained by 
shaking, or otherwise disturbing it. If these facts will aid you, 
you are welcome to them. 

" Yours respectfully, 

"GEORGE HUNT." 



In the eighth note of part first, several instances of the power 
of producing paralysis are given ; and I there stated that the 
power gained by the practice of magnetism may be found effect- 
ual in producing it without having a communication previously 
established. The following letter from Dr. Knox, of New York, 
give3 well-authenticated evidence that the conjecture was not 
unfounded : — 

FROM DOCTOR KNOX. 

" Providence, September 24, 1837. 
"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn: 

"Dear Sir: You requested me to communicate to you 
some facts in animal magn tism which I had observed. Al- 
though I cannot certainly attach much importance to them, yet, 
if you can make any use of them, they are perfectly at your 
service. 

"A few evenings since, being in company where the subject 
of animal magnetism — at present so engrossing a theme — was 



APPENDIX. 347 

the topic of conversation, I was requested to magnetize some 
person present for the amusement of the company. This I de- 
clined, remarking-, at the same time, that I had frequently known 
peculiar sensations produced locally by the magnetic passes, and 
offering to make the attempt. Tn this, much beyond my own ex- 
pectation, and to the amusement of the company, I was com- 
pletely successful. The magnetic operations, continued during 
two minutes, produced complete palsy of the left arm. Besides 
the complete annihilation of muscular power, the arm lost, to a 
certain degree, its sensibility, and its temperature was somewhat 
reduced. The firm health and previous skepticism of the subject 
of this experiment conspired to render the result remarkable ; 
while her unquestionable veracity, her eloquent look of surprise, 
and her reiterated assertions, precluded all suspicion of imposi- 
tion. There were present, on this occasion, Dr. Parsons, and 
General Greene, of Providence. 

"I have frequently made the same experiment, and, in the 
majority of cases, some peculiar sensations have been the result ; 
generally a sense of weight in the arm, a degree of immobility, 
when compared Avith the other arm, and, though less frequently, 
a sense of pricking, such as occurs when the arm or foot is said 
to be asleep. Whether these results are the product of an ex- 
cited imagination, or a direct influence of the will of the magnet- 
izer, I shall not attempt to decide. At the same time, I must 
candidly avow that a skepticism, somewhat more than philosoph- 
ical, with which I commenced the investigation of the claims of 
animal magnetism, has been vanquished by facts which I have 
witnessed, (and less than ocular demonstration I did not feel 
inclined to admit,) and by the curious results which, in a diver- 
sity of cases, have followed my own experiments. I do not wish 
to be understood as declaring my belief in all that magnetizers 
or their patients, much less the retailers at second hand of mag- 
netic miracles, have asserted. Much allowance must be made 
for credulity, a love of the marvellous, and that propensity, so 
common, to make the most of the easy faith of our neighbors. 
Vet, after all these deductions, I apprehend there will remain a 
residuum of unimpeachable testimony for facts which have hith- 
erto been considered as warring with the laws of nature, and as 
possible only on the supposition of miraculous interposition. 

"By the politeness of Dr. Capron, I have had several oppor- 
tunities of seeing Miss Brackett, whose case he has detailed in 
the first number of your translation. To test the lucidity of this 
somnambulist, I resorted to an experiment which had previously 
been frequently tried, and, according to the assertions of the 
most respectable witnesses, with complete success. I wrote a 
note of four lines, directed to Miss Brackett, to the contents of 
which she could have no possible clew. I enclosed it in two 
envelopes, so that the writing was covered by four folds of paper. 



348 APPENDIX. 

I sealed it with four wafers and four wax seals, and impressed it 
with a peculiar device. No light, however strong, could render 
it possible to discover that there was any thing written within. 
This was left with the somnambulist, and, two days after, Dr, 
Capron returned it to me with the contents of the note written 
on the outer envelope, with the exception of one word, which 
she could not decipher. This was, no doubt, owing to the illegi- 
ble character of the hand-writing, as, on opening it, I was con- 
vinced I could not have read it myself but from recollection. She 
likewise wrote 'sentiments,' instead of 'selections' — another 
mistake certainly attributable to the same cause. The note con- 
tained seventeen words, which were known to no one but myself. 
It was returned as it was given, without the slightest appearance 
of having been handled or crumpled. The supposition of the 
removal or opening of the seals was out of the question. The 
idea that the discovery was a happy conjecture is absurd. To 
resort to a mathematical expression, the chance of such a solu- 
tion being unity, no number short of infinity could represent the 
opposite chances. Such facts as these, I grant, require for their 
establishment a mass of evidence, great in proportion to their 
marvellous character. Yet such a weight of testimony is rapidly 
accumulating, if it does not already exist, as must shake the in- 
credulity of the most skeptical. The denial that any proof can 
establish such facts, involves principles no less dangerous than 
those by which the celebrated Hume vainly sought to overthrow 
the evidence of Christianity. 

u Respectfully yours, 

"J. R. KNOX." 



NOTE XXXIII. 

INSENSIBILITY TO PAIN 

FROM DOCTOR ESTEN. 

" Providence, November 13, 1837, 

"Dear Sir: In the appendix of Deleuze, I find it given in 
the notes as an opinion that the somnambulist always appears 
to know what the magnetizer is doing, and therefore he cannot 
perform a surgical operation without producing pain. I am led, 
by the experiments which I have tried, to think this is not always 
the case. I think the patient, in the somnambulic state, may 
sometimes know what the magnetizer is doing, even while he is 
performing a surgical operation, and may assist in the operation,, 
and still be insensible to pain. This, perhaps, depends very 
much upon the degree of sympathy which the operator has for his 



APPENDIX. 349 

patient — a sympathy that induces apprehensions lest the patient 
should suffer under the operation. 

" On the 28th of October ultimo, a lady, in company with a 
friend of hers, called on me to have some teeth filled. One, in 
particular, was so badly decayed, and so sensitive, that the touch 
of an instrument produced severe pain, so much so that she could 
not endure to have it filled until she was magnetized. Knowing 
that she had been frequently magnetized, I obtained permission 
to make use of it on this occasion, to ascertain whether 1 could 
or could not perform the operation without producing pain. I 
threw her into the magnetic sleep in about five minutes. I 
then removed that entire portion of the tooth which was cari- 
ous, without regarding the nerve or membrane, and filled the 
cavity. During the whole time, she showed no indications of 
pain. She appeared to know every thing I was doing, talked 
about the operation, opened her mouth when I approached her 
with an instrument, and closed it again when I withdrew it 1 
asked her if the operation was painful, and she said it ivas not in 
the least 

"The pain of removing the carious portion of a tooth, where 
the nerve and membrane are exposed, as in this case, is greater 
than that of extracting the tooth. I should not have filled this 
tooth, on account of the insufferable pain that would have nat- 
urally attended the work, and which would have followed it, had 
the patient not been magnetized. 

" I filled two or three other teeth while the patient was in the 
somnambulic state; but the one to which particular reference 
has been made above, is the only one that would naturally be 
attended with much pain. Before 1 awoke her, I inquired if the 
tooth ached ; she said it did not, and that it was perfectly easy. 
On being awaked, she immediately clapped her hand to her 
face, and said her tooth ached 1 advised her to keep the filling 
in, to give it a trial, and see if it would not stop aching. The 
next evening, she sent for me, and informed me that her tooth 
had continued to ache ever since it was filled, and was then 
aching violently. I removed the filling, and applied some kre- 
osote, but without producing the desired effect The tooth con- 
tinued to ache violently. She was afterwards magnetized ; and, 
while in that state, she asked for a knitting-needle, which was 
given her. She heated the needle, and thrust it into her tooth 
with her own hand, for the purpose of destroying the nerve. In 
this she was successful. The operation which she performed 
with her own hands, she said, did not produce pain. 

" For further satisfaction, I cut around one of her teeth with a 

gum lancet while she was in the somnambulic state, and placed 

a pair of extracting instruments upon the tooth, and pulled quite 

hard, giving it a rotary motion with as much force as the tooth 

30 



350 APPENDIX. 

would bear without starting it I asked her if what I had done 
did not hurt. She said she did not feel it, for I had not pulled 
any. She then took up the instrument which 1 had laid down, 
and wished to extract the tooth herself. 1 placed the instrument 
upon her tooth, when she seized it with both hands, and pulled 
with so much force that I was obliged to exert my strength to 
prevent her from starting it The instrument bore so hard upon 
the tooth and gums as to start the blood. She still said she felt 
no pain, and she certainly showed no indications of it She bore 
the whole without changing countenance, or moving a muscle 
that indicated pain. 

" 1 think 1 could have extracted either of her teeth without her 
being sensible of pain, but did not wish to sacrifice a tooth to 
gratify curiosity. 

" When she was in my office the first time, I had occasion to 
take an artificial tooth from a small box in a closet, which had 
been shut, and into which she could not have looked had she 
been awake, and in the chair where she then was. She imme- 
diately told me that I had taken it from a box in the closet, and, 
rising up, she carried it back to the same box, although there 
were several others filled with the same sort of teeth. 

" Yours, respectfully, 

»W. T. ESTEN." 



NOTE XXXIV. 

FROM MR. AMERICUS V. POTTER. 

" Saratoga Springs, September 14, 1837. 

"Dear Sir: I embrace the first opportunity to give you 
the information you asked in regard to the effects of magnetism 
upon men. I am not prepared to speak positively about the rel- 
ative susceptibility of the two sexes, as I have attempted to 
magnetize but few men ; yet I think them the most difficult to 
magnetize. I speak of susceptibility, because I believe the ac- 
tion depends as much upon a certain constitutional adaptation 
as upon the health of the subject 

"I magnetized Mr. Angell, a gentleman of Providence, of 
about twenty-five, in good health, of a very active and rather 
nervous temperament At the first sitting, I closed his eyes in 
about five minutes. Afterwards, I found no difficulty in doing it 
in about two, so that he could not open them. I have done it 
more than once at the distance of half a mile. I was never able 
to get him beyond this state, although I magnetized him six or 
eight times for the purpose. 



APPENDIX. 351 

"In five minutes, at the first sitting, I closed a gentleman's 
eyes, (Mr. Rogers, attorney,) at Saratoga Springs, so that he 
could not open them. I have not attempted since. 

"In ordinary cases, when we wish to convince a man of the 
truth of any thing, we desire and try to open his eyes. But, in 
this case, you will perceive I have taken a course clean con- 
trary. I convinced Mr. Rogers of my magnetic power by closing 
his eyes in spite of his teeth. To tell the truth, he yielded with a 
good grace, and he is now firm in the faith. I trust no witling 
will infer from this that we mean to blind people merely to im- 
pose upon their imaginations, or that Mr. Rogers rushed blindly 
into a belief in magnetism, without seeing a reason for his sudden 
conversion. 

" After a sitting of about twenty minutes with a young man 
of our city, I found him unable to raise his hand, or even speak, 
with evident symptoms of somnambulism, although he was not 
asleep. After two more sittings, of about the same time, he 
progressed very sensibly, so much so that I could act considera- 
bly upon the muscles of his arm ; yet I think it would take two 
or tliree more sittings to make this a perfect case. His health 
appears to be good, but he has a very slender constitution. 

" At the solicitation of a gentleman at Newport, I magnetized 
a very active colored man, a waiter at the Bellevue Hotel, of 
strong constitution and excellent health. In about forty min- 
utes, he was unable to speak or move. I raised and extended 
his arm at an elevation of about thirty degrees, and kept it there 
at will for more than fifteen minutes ; although I asked him at 
several different times to drop his arm, he could not do it, unac- 
companied by my wilL When the influence was thrown off, he 
did not know that his arm had been moved. I saw symptoms of 
somnambulism, but had no further opportunity to continue the 
experiments. This man had never heard of magnetism before, 
No other case occurs to my mind worth mentioning at this 
time.* 

" On my passage from Providence to this place, by the care- 
lessness of the driver who was to take me at Springfield, I was 
left, and obliged to wait for the next day's stage. Having seen 
an account, some four or five years since, of a girl who was a 
natural somnambulist at that place, I determined to see her if she 
was to be found. I learned that Dr. Belden was her physician 
at the time. I called upon the doctor, and stated my business. 
He received me very courteously, and was perfectly willing to 
give ma any information. On my declaring it to be my convic- 
tion that I could produce the same phenomena by magnetization, 
which she formerly exhibited in a natural way, he expressed his 

* Since this letter was written, Mr. Potter has magnetized several 
men. 



352 APPENDIX. 

entire unoelief, yet was willing 1 should try the experiment, with 
the young lady's consent 

" I found her to be a girl about the age of nineteen, and hav- 
ing the appearance of the most perfect health. I sat down before 
her, holding her thumbs, and in four minutes she was entirely 
insensible to all external objects-* 

" Dr. Belden informed me that the appearance of the girl was 
the same as formerly, when in that state, except that she is much 
more calm. There was some difficulty in waking her. He ap- 
peared to express his conviction of the power of magnetism, from 
the singular and striking effect produced in this case. 

" Since my arrival here, I have been solicited to prove the 
existence of the magnetic power by magnetizing various individ- 
uals. Among them was Mrs. F****, about twenty-five years 
old, light complexion, hair, and eyes, the daughter of Judge 
Cowing. She had been subject to tic douloureux, but was not 
afflicted with it at the time. She possesses a fine mind and a 
cultivated taste. At the first sitting, of twenty minutes, she ex- 
perienced a sense of numbness. At the second sitting, the next 
day, in thirty minutes a state of tranquillity was induced, and a 
total loss of muscular power. At the third, the above symptoms 
were much increased. 

" The fourth sitting Avas at the house of Mr. J. W. Westcott, 
In twenty minutes, her eyes were closed, and she obeyed a mental 
request, by raising her hand several times. From this state, sne 
passed into the most perfect ecstasy, with violent and energetic 
action of the hands and the muscles of her face, frequently 
exclaiming, ' O, what thoughts ! if I could only clothe them m 
words ! ' The motion of her hands and the changes of her ex- 
pression were as if she were acting some part in a tragedy. 
Sometimes she burst into violent screams of laughter. After 
throwing off the influence, she continued in the same state far 
about an hour, till it gradually wore off, and she was enabled 
to go home. Before it wore off, her eyes being wide open, she 
continued the motions of the hands, and watched them without 
being able to stop them, conversing, at the same time, upon other 
subjects. She sat down and played upon the piano, without 
experiencing any difficulty ; but, as soon as she left off playing,, 
the motions returned, though less violently. 

" The next sitting was attended with the same results, but of 
much shorter duration. Mr. Westcott and lady, and four or five 
others, were present. 

" My next patient was Miss Maria Read, sixteen years of age 
the 4th of July last, under the medical attendance of Dr. 
Steele. 1 understood, from Dr. Allen, that she had suffered a 

* In a letter from Dr. Belden to the translator, this statement is cQa^ 
firmed. Dr. Belden died in 1342, 



APPENDIX. 353 

total prostration of strength, and great nervousness, so that she 
could not hold any thing in her hand. She was troubled, more- 
over, with an obstruction, and a loss of appetite. Dark complex- 
ion and eyes. 

"In twenty minutes, she went into a magnetic state, resem- 
bling natural sleep. She would not answer the questions of 
others or of myself. Sometimes she would answer me in a low 
whisper. Other persons could rouse her by a noise, but not by 
speaking to her. She was magnetized once a day for ten or fif- 
teen days. The effect upon her, as I am informed by her mother 
and herself, is a reestablishment of the strength of her nerves, 
and an improvement in her general health. 

" At Saratoga, I put the lady of General Smith asleep in fifteen 
minutes. For some time, she was unable to speak ; but, when 
I commenced waking her, she requested me to let her remain in 
that state, because she ' felt so happy.' At 1 o'clock, she wished 
to remain until dinner-time, which was at 2. 

"I then asked her husband to inform me, at 2 o'clock, if 
every tiling was not right. When the bell rang for dinner, Gen- 
eral Smith went to her room, took Mrs. S. by the hand, and went 
down to the table, where she was immediately taken ill. He 
went back with her to her room, seated her, and returned to the 
table. At 3 o'clock, he came to her room, and found her on 
the floor, nearly senseless, quite deranged, and suffering the most 
excruciating pain in the head, stomach, and bowels. He placed 
her upon the bed, and applied frictions over the chest and limbs, 
without giving relief. Although it roused her a little, she re- 
mained in the same state until 7 o'clock, when Mr. Hubbard 
chanced to meet me, and informed me that Mrs. S. was danger- 
ously ill ; but he did not ascribe it to magnetism. I went forth- 
with to her room, where I found her as above described. I placed 
one hand upon her forehead, and the other upon her waist, and in 
five minutes she was entirely restored. General Smith should 
have informed me, as I had particularly requested him to, as soon 
as she was taken ill at dinner-time. 

" October 7th, Albany. Miss S ###### , fair complexion, hair, 
and eyes. I drew my hand, for two minutes, from the shoulder 
of the left arm to the ends of the fingers, slightly touching them. 
She complained of great sense of weakness in the arm. On the 
next Monday, at 9 o'clock in the morning, there was a pain in the 
muscle of the left forearm. This had continued from the time 
I had magnetized it on Saturday, so that she was not able to raise 
any small weight or to use it 1 restored the arm in five minutes, 
after a continued paralysis of thirty-six hours. 

"While in Albany, 1 got acquainted with Dr. March, who, as 
you well know, lectures on anatomy, and whose anatomical col- 
lection, by the by, is an exceedingly fine one. My friend, Mr. G., 
threw Dr. March's little daughter, seven years old, into a mag- 
30* 



354 APPENDIX. 

netic sleep in about ten minutes, without touching her, and with- 
out using the manipulations. To ascertain what effect could be 
produced at a distance, Mr. G. and Professor McKee being at the 
Temperance Hotel, and Dr. March being- with the little girl at his 
own house, about fifty rods distant, he put her into somnambulism 
in five minutes, 

" This was only the fourth time of magnetizing her ; and she 
not only did not know of the attempt, but Dr. March kept her 
reading. She dropped her book, and fell asleep. 

"A. K. Hadley, Esq., and another gentleman, a physician, both 
from Troy, were present. 

" She has since been magnetized in the presence of Drs. James 
and George McNaughton, Dr. Peck, and about twenty others, of 
the first respectability. Dr. March put her to sleep easily. 

" Mr. G. also magnetized Mr. John Perry, in the presence of 
Governor Marcy, Mr. Attorney-General Butler, and several phy- 
sicians, among whom was Dr. March. Sitting at the distance of 
six feet from Mr. Perry, he began to magnetize him mentally. In 
five minutes, his eyes were set wide open, but he took no notice 
of things. In seven minutes, he closed them, and began to trem- 
ble nervously, and his whole frame to shake. The convulsions 
were violent, stamping and striking with his fists, and they con- 
tinued about half an hour. By placing the hand upon the bare 
neck and breast, and the upper part of the stomach, he finally 
succeeded in waking him, after carrying him out into the street* 

" At the second sitting, I threw him into the same state, in pres- 
ence of Professor McKee and Dr. March, and the effects were 
about the same. When spoken to, he would not answer. He is 
an active, healthy, intelligent young man. 

" Judge Spreicker was also magnetized four times. He was 
so much affected as not to be able to answer any one but Mr. G. 
The judge was an unbeliever even after seeing a case of som- 
nambulism. He is now ready to testify to the power of this 
agent. 

" At the house of Rev. Mr. Wycoff, in the presence of the 
principal of the Female Academy, Dr. James McNaughton, and 
others, I magnetized Miss Van N., about seventeen years of age, 

* Mesmer maintained that these convulsions were useful. He endeav- 
ored to produce them, and the great power with which he was endued was 
thus exhibited in an extraordinary degree. Experience, however, has 
shown that they are sometimes attended with effects which are bad, though 
neither fatal nor permanent. At present, the magnetizers use their infiu- 
ence soothingly, and find its effects salutary. Their patients are, however, 
sometimes thrown into convulsions, when the action is too great, or not 
sustained by firmness of purpose. The Messrs. Potter are abundantly 
Able to prove the existence of the magnetic power. But to ascertain the 
true value of it as a means of alleviating and curing the sick, demands in- 
cessant practice. They have been several times successfully employed 
by physicians in this city to magnetize their patients. — Trans. 



APPENDIX. 



355 



light hair, light eyes, and good health through lite. She settled 
down from mirth and laughter, in five minutes, to a vacant stare, 
without winking. In a few minutes more, she closed her eyes. 
There was a slight trembling of the frame. In fifteen minutes, 
she would answer no one but myself. She was awaked by re- 
versed motions in thirty seconds. 
" Yours, 

« AMERICUS V. POTTER. 
" Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn." 



NOTE XXXV. — Page 165. 

Deleuze says that the influence of the magnetizer will be felt 
even in the waking state. I have evidence of a very curious 
nature in proof of this assertion. 

Every one who takes the true way to convince himself of the 
existence of the agent called Mesmerism, that is, by attempting 
the proofs on individuals whose state of health he desires to ben- 
efit, will find nothing more common than this influence over som- 
nambulists. Georget seems not to have known this, for he might 
have prevented the repugnance which his patients manifested 
when they were served with moxas and blisters of their own pre- 
scription. The reader is referred to the letter of Dr. Robbins, at 
the twenty-sixth note, for some curious results. In a subsequent 
letter, that gentleman states that he does not find the plan equally 
efficacious with all. An inveterate attachment to tobacco in its 
various shapes, has been entirely destroyed, though the patient, 
a young medical student of about twenty years of age, knew 
nothing of the cause of it while in the ordinary state. Many 
weeks have elapsed, but I am informed that the attachment has 
not yet revived. 

It is not therefore so extraordinary that any article of food, 
when magnetized with the design of changing its taste, and pre- 
sented to the somnambulist, should retain its induced qualities 
long after he is awakened from sleep. Any person who is merely 
put in communication with one, may do this to his own satisfac- 
tion, without saying a word of his intention even to the patient 
I have tried this successfully, changing a piece of wheat bread 
into cake, a part of which was eaten immediately and pronounced 
to be cake, and the next day the rest was eaten while the patient, 
who is blind, was in the ordinary state, and did not know that 
she had had the piece in her hand. How far the experiment 
would succeed with one who possesses vision, I have never yet 
availed myself of my opportunities to ascertain. I have in the 
same manner imparted a peculiar taste to water. 

Dr. Robbins has tried experiments of the same kind. One of 



356 APPENDIX. 

these he relates in a recent note to me, which exhibits this power 
of transfusing tastes in a very striking degree. He gave one of 
his somnambulists a clove to eat, and told her to recollect, after 
waking, that she had eaten a piece of cinnamon. On waking, she 
had some of it remaining in her mouth, and thought it was in 
reality cinnamon, while another clove which she ate had its 
proper taste. At another time, when she was asleep, he gave her 
a piece of aloes, not informing her what it was, and told her to 
have it taste on her awaking like liquorice. Observing it upon 
the table after waking, she mistook it for opium ; but, on being 
told to taste it, she did so, and recognised at once the nauseous 
sweet of liquorice. Such is one of the powers of this unknown 
agent. It changes the most disgusting bitter in the whole mate- 
ria medica into the most intense sweet. If any one thinks these 
experiments were not made with sufficient care, it is easy for 
him to repeat them in many ways, if he can obtain the privilege 
of being put in communication with a somnambulist. 

There is another power closely allied to this which is no less sur- 
prising. You can induce a desire for a particular species of food 
at a particular hour of the day. A trial of this was recently made 
by Dr. Cleveland, of Pawtuxet. The patient, without knowing 
any thing about the influence which had been exerted the day 
before, called for the several articles which had been specified 
for each of the three daily meals. The patient's want of appe- 
tite f >r several weeks in succession was the reason for pursuing 
this course, and it was completely successful. 

Dr. Cleveland once called upon another of his patients, who 
enjoyed a good appetite, and was anticipating a choice article of 
food for dinner. He advised her to sleep an hour before dinner; 
and, while she was in the Mesmeric state, he told her that she 
must not eat of the dish she was anticipating, but of another one, 
which he specified. On her awaking, no one being present but 
the r.urse, who knew the doctor's intention, she refused to par- 
take of the viand, though it was urged upon her as being well 
prepared and palatable ; but she called for the substituted food, on 
which she dined with relish, without suspecting the cause of the 
change wrought in her appetite. 

Dr. Cleveland has also succeeded in several other experiments 
of a highly-useful nature, the particulars of which I have in some 
letters from him which are now before me. One of these was to 
induce a spirit of charitable feeling towards an individual who 
had rendered himself an object of the patient's hatred and indig- 
nation. Thus far the spirit of forgiveness still prevails, although 
the somnambulist knows nothing about the influence exerted by 
the magnetizer to produce this happy result. 

Some other experiments have been made by him upon several 
somnambulists to excite cheerfulness, hope, and order, respec- 
tively, which were attended with success the most complete. 



APPENDIX. 357 

I state these things not to excite the marvellousness of the 
reader, but with the design of enforcing the precepts of Deleuze, 
wherein, to the minds of men who are not sufficiently acquainted 
with the subject, he seems to be over-cautious ; for instance, in 
the chapter on somnambulism, and especially in his chapter on 
the choice of a magnetizer. That one could take advantage of the 
magnetic sleep, in some instances, to subserve an evil purpose, 
seems now to me unquestionable. But the physician has drugs 
of most potent effect, a drop or two of which would be immediate 
in its action, whether the recipient be in good or in bad health ; 
while, by the aid of Mesmerism, the process is slow, uncertain, 
and tedious, and seldom effective on persons who are not already 
prostrated by disease. The physician is one on whom we bestow 
our confidence in an especial manner, and therefore we are care- 
ful, in the first place, to choose one on whom we can depend ; 
having regard not wholly to his skill, but to certain qualities of 
the head and the heart which vindicate our choice. If the physi- 
cian we have chosen proposes to try Mesmerism in aid of his 
remedies, we do not require the exertion of greater confidence 
than we already repose in him, if we have been governed by the 
right motive, and have made no mistake, in our choice. He is 
the proper person to employ this agent, provided he is in good 
health, and has the good sense to make a trial in spite of his pre- 
possessions against it 

Yet there are certain requisites in a magnetizer, which we do 
not find in some physicians. I cannot do better than to recom- 
mend the reading of the two chapters referred to above. The 
principles advanced in them derive support from the facts em- 
braced in this note, and from the experience of many physicians 
with whom I have conversed. Many men of science are heartily 
engaged in the investigation, not, I trust, with partisan feelings, 
but with the sincere desire of doing good ; and at this very time, 
though the first excitement is nearly over, there are more som- 
nambulists and more patients under treatment than at any pre- 
vious period. They may be stated at several hundreds in this 
and the adjoining states. The number of somnambulists referred 
to in this appendix is upwards of sixty, leaving out those who 
are merely thrown into the Mesmeric state, who are much more 
numerous. 



END, 



359 



NEW APPENDIX. 



NOTE XXXVI. 

LETTERS FROM PHYSICIANS. 

FROM DOCTOR DOUGLAS. 

" Hamilton, N. Y. June 28, 1843. 

" Dear Sir: I received yours oi 21st inst. this day, and in 

compliance with your request, proceed to give you a detail 

of a lew, out of many cases which have occurred under my 

own treatment, of the effects of Mesmerism upon disease. 

--Case 1. — July 1842, evening. I was called to visit Mrs. — . 
1 found her in the 7th month of pregnancy, and in severe la- 
bor, which had continued nearly all day. The pains were 
now as frequent as every four or five minutes, and very 
urgent. An examination showed the os uteri to be sufficient- 
ly dilated to admit the ringer with considerable play, and the 
tense membrane was plainly felt. She had been, during the 
whole afternoon, much stupified with opium, in the hope of 
deferring her confinement until my return, having been absent 
during the day. She expressed a perfect determination to 
have nothing done to retard the progress of labor. She had 
been in the, same condition in her last two pregnancies at 
the same period, and all the means employed to prevent pre- 
mature delivery, had only prolonged her suffering. She had 
sent for me to hasten, and not retard her delivery. With- 
out saying any thing, I laid my hand carelessly outside of her 
dress, over the uterus. The first pain, after doing so, was 
obviously lighter, the second scarcely waked her, and the 
third did not appear. I remained an hour, during which 
she slept undisturbed. I directed the husband to repeat the 
process, if the pain returned. After expressing the confi- 
dent belief that my hand could have had nothing to do with 
producing the result which had followed, he promised com- 
pliance. On visiting her the following evening, I was inform- 
ed by the husband that her pains had returned twice since 
my former visit, and he had found himself a better doctor 



360 NEW APPENDIX. 

than T, for he had perfectly stopped them in five minutes. 
They recurred a few times afterwards, and were allayed by 
the same means with the same facility. About two months 
from this period, she was delivered of a large and healthy 
child. 

" Case 2.— In May, 1843, I visited Mrs. , a young 

married lady, who had suffered one abortion at an early pe- 
riod. She was now at about the same period a second 
time, and had had regular labor pains for the last twelve 
hours. Knowing her to be very susceptible to the Mesmeric 
influence, I laid my hand over the uterus, and the n°xt pain 
did not occur. She has had several attacks of labor pains 
since, and the husband informs me that she is so sensitive 
that she never has a single pain after he lays his hand 
upon her. 

" Case 3.— March 29, 1842. Visited Miss T., a girl of 
about ten or eleven years of age, who had been attacked, 
the previous day, with acute rheumatism, which had loca- 
ted in the knees, ancles and feet. These parts were swol- 
len, hot, red, and intensely tender and painful. She had 
slept none the previous night, and was loudly crying with 
pain. The pulse was over 120, with thirst and hot skin. 
The slightest motion of the affected joints could not be borne. 
I requested the father to lay his hands on the affected parts 
and make passes over them, expressing the hope that it 
would afford her relief. He chose to be excused from what 
he deemed so useless a process, but at length consented. 
In about five or six minutes she ceased to groan, and 
talked cheerfully, saying that her limbs did not ache at all. 
In from ten to fifteen minutes, she was perfectly relieved, 
not only from pain, but tenderness also ; and suffered her joints 
to be pressed and moved lreely in every direction, declar- 
ing that there was not the slightest tenderness. About the 
middle of the following night, the pain returned, and was 
removed by the same process with equal promptitude. Twen- 
ty-four hours from this, it again returned, and was removed 
to return no more. 

"Case 4. — In April last, I was attacked with rheumatism 
of the feet. It increased during the day, and was so painful 
at night that I was unable to sleep. At three o'clock in the 
morning, the pain had become extremely intense, and I sent 
across the street for Doctor J. Babcock. He applied his hand 
and made passes over it, for fifteen or twenty minutes, when 
the pain entirely subsided, leaving slight soreness in one joml 



NEW APPENDIX. 361 

I resumed my ordinary business in the morning, with slight 
lameness, which disappeared during the day without any 
recurrence of the pain. 

" Case 5.— In the Spring of 1842, I suffered a bronchial 
attack, which, in the afternoon of the second day, had be- 
come severe, and was attended with tightness of the chest, 
great soreness of the chest and throat, shortness of breath, 
incessant and harassing cough, -considerable feverishness, 
and such a degree of hoarseness that it was difficult to emit 
a sound above a whisper. By the application of the same 
hand for about a quarter of an hour, to the throat and chest, 
I was so perfectly relieved of all these symptoms, that I could 
not ascertain from any feeling, thai I had a cold or was in 
the slightest degree unwell. 1 did not feel the least disposi- 
tion to cough again during the evening or night, though I 
believe I did not pass five minutes during the previous after- 
noon without coughing. The change was palpable toothers 
as well as myself, in the immediate and almost entire restora- 
tion of my voice. In the morning, the Mesmeric influence 
seemed to have passed off, and my disease resumed its course, 
but so much improved that I did not deem it necessary to 
trouble my friend for another application of the remedy. If 
I might be allowed to use such a form of expression, I would 
say that it was three quarters cured. I cannot doubt but 
another application would have rendered the cure complete. 

" Case 6.— In March 1842, I attended Miss , for a spi- 
nal affection. It was extremely tender — very slight pressure 
producing intense pain on the spot, and in distant parts of 
the system connected by nervous communication with the 
part of the spine pressed, and faintness. By passing the 
hand over the spine for a few minutes, the tenderness was 
entirely removed, so that any degree of pressure was borne 
without inconvenience. I then proceeded to make two long 
and deep issues with caustic potash, one on each side of the 
spine. During the whole operation, she declared that she 
did not suffer the slightest pain, but the same sensation of 
pleasure which she experienced from the passage of my 
hand in Mesmerising. Just at the close of the operation, she 
complained of sickness of stomach, an effect which I have 
often witnessed, on Mesmerising the back, unless some passes 
are made at the same time over the stomach. The most se- 
vere pain from these issues was subsequently at any time re- 
moved in a few moments, by some one passing the hand over 
them. 

31 



362 NEW APPENDIX. 

" Case 7. — In February, 1842, I visited Miss , under 

the following circumstances. She had been troubled for two 
or three years, with a chronic affection of the stomach, at- 
tended with indigestion and vomiting of her food. She had 
recently been attended by a quack, who had pursued a stim- 
ulating treatment. This had brought on acute inflammation 
of the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels, attend- 
ed with uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhoea. After some 
days the inflammation had extended to the serous mem- 
brane, attended by obstinate constipation, and great pain 
and tumefaction of the bowels. When I saw her, she had 
vomited almost incessantly for ten days, retaining nothing 
upon the stomach; she had had no evacuations from the bow- 
els for four or five days, and the tumefaction was as great 
as the integuments would admit. The pain was constant 
and terribly severe. Other symptoms were alarming. The 
face was pale and sunken, and covered with a clammy sweat 
— the pulse was a weak and almost undistinguishable flutter. 
Standing by the bed-side, and reflecting with great anxiety 
upon the probable impotency of medicine in such a state of 
things, it being extremely probable that mortificaiion was 
about to take place, or was already taking place, I almost un- 
consciously and from habit, laid my hand upon her stomach, 
and made passes over it and the bowels. In a few minutes- 
she ceased groaning, and on being asked if she was easy, she 
replied, ' easier.' In a few minutes after, on being asked 
again, she replied, ' perfectly easy, and my sickness at stomach 
is gone.' Her pulse became distinct and lull, and her face, 
from a deathly paleness, became flushed. I proposed giving 
her a dose of castor oil, but was assured that that article 
was always very nauseous to her. I however turned out a 
full dose,, raised her head and presented it to her, requesting 
her to take it. She swallowed it deliberately, sipping it clean 
from the cup,, without manifesting the least dislike. She lay 
apparently asleep, and at perfect ease, for about four hours, 
when she waked and soon made an effort to vomit. This 
sickness was at once allayed by the same means, and the oil 
repeated. During the night it produced its desired effect, and 
every immediately alarming symptom had disappeared. By 
the daily application of Mesmerism, she was in a few days 
tolerably comfortable. But the bowels, though comparatively 
free from pain, retained the tenderness and tumefaction. I 
had often removed the tenderness in a few minutes, and there 
I had stopped. Continuing the process a little longer than 
usual one day, I was surprised to observe an obvious dimi- 
nution of the fullness. Continuing it some timelonger, I was 
more surprised to find it disappear altogether. Their pres- 



NEW APPENDIX. 363 

<ent softness and flatness contrasted very strangely with the 
former fullness, extreme hardness and distension. This was 
often repeated afterwards, with uniformly the same result — 
the great fullness and hardness being perfectly removed in 
about fifteen minutes, leaving the abdomen entirely flat and 
soft. This process was repeated, till the tendency to fullness 
and tenderness was overcome. Since that time, other cases, 
of great tumefaction from inflammation of bowels, removed 
in the same manner, have come under my observation. The 
above patient, under the daily influence of Mesmerism, finally 
recovered from her superinduced attack of acute disease and 
her original chronic affection. I have no hesitation in attrib- 
uting to this agent the preservation of her life. 

"The above are a few ordinary examples illustrative of a 
most important fact in Mesmerism, viz., the power of that 
agent to annihilate irritability or sensibility to pain, and thus 
to remove one of the most powerful exciting causes of a con- 
tinuation of disease, and one of the most obstinate obstacles 
in the way of its removal. It supplies a disideratum in 
medicine. 

" At the time of addressing you in 1839, I was in the in- 
cipient stage of inquiry, with a variety of phenomena which 
I had elicited, and which surprised and puzzled me. Un- 
acquainted with any practical magnetist, I was under the 
necessity of prosecuting, to some extent, an independent 
course of inquiry, which has gradually cleared away the 
difficulties and led to many clear and definite results. My 
little work on Mesmerism was intended to give the practi- 
cal informrtion I possessed at the time of its publication, 
and supply the place, at less trouble, of the numerous letters 
I was obliged to write in answer to inquiries addressed to 
me. I will send you a copy. It may, to some extent, an- 
swer some of your inquiries. Since its publication, my 
greatly increased experience discovers many imperfections in 
it, and some errors. It has, however, more than answered 
my expectations in directing the attention of the communi- 
ty, and especially of the medical profession, to the subject. 

" The cases of disease of various character to which I 
have applied Mesmerism with benefit, are innumerable. I 
have never seen an amputation under its influence, but 1 
have performed a large number of minor and every day 
operations by its aid without pain, as cupping on tender 
places, upon which the least pressure could not be made 
without pain before magnetizing, the insertion of setons, 
making large and deep issues with caustic potash, blister- 
ing in irritable habits, &c. 



364 NEW APPENDIX. 

"I have witnessed the most surprising relief and cures in 
all of the following diseases, viz : asthma, (a perfect cure of 
the most distressing breathing in fifteen minutes ) colds, at- 
tended with great hoarseness, sore throat, tightness of the 
lungs, and distressing cough ; angina pectoris, (a perfect 
cure in a few minutes.) acute rheumatism, (many striking 
and surprising cases,) inflammation of the bowels, gastritis, 
dyspepsia, spinal irritation, after-pains of the most severe 
character, headache, dysmenorrhea, toothaches, universal 
pain attending attacks of fever, extreme and painful fatigue, 
habitual sleeplessness, &c. 

" Respectfully yours, 

"J. S. DOUGLAS. 

"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 



FROM DOCTOR BARRETT. 

"Forrestville, N. Y., June 14, 1843. 

"Dear Sir : I am gratified to learn that you are engaged 
in the work of which you speak. I have paid some attention 
to the subject, but have had access to no very extensive work. 
I am satisfied that it has claims which but iew medical men 
at present duly appreciate. I have performed no amputation 
on a person in the Mesmeric state, although I have the most 
perfect confidence that it may be done. 

" I will briefly state to you such cases as have come under 
my notice ; and shall be happy if I can do any thing to aid 
you in the furtherance of your object. 

"Miss E. J., aged 18, was attacked in January last with 
Pleurisy. On being magnetised, the breathing became easy 
and free ; but the pain and difficulty of breathing returned 
on her being restored to consciousness. She was again 
magnetised, and bled until some degree of faintness was 
manifest, without her being conscious of any thing having 
been done ; only she felt much better. She was then put 
into the Mesmeric state again ; and a blister plaster, 6 by 8 
inches, applied to the side, which remained six hours; at the 
end of which time it was found to have drawn and filled well. 
It was removed, and a dressing given; she, during the time, 
apparently enjoying quiet sleep, and perfectly unconscious of 
having been bled or blistered. The incision made on bleeding, 
was without soreness, which was quite different from those 
made in the waking state, as the case was a severe one and 
required repeated bleedings. 

"I am satisfied the cure was much facilitated by bringing 
to my aid magnetism. She was afterward afflicted with the 



NEW APPENDIX. 365 

teeth ache ; I extracted a large molar tooth, and she was not 
conscious of it; nor did she miss it until some half hour when 
her attention was directed to it. Miss S. E. also had a molar 
tooth extracted while in the Mesmeric state without being 
conscious of it, or even moving a muscle — the soreness in 
either case following the operation was trifling compared to 
what it had been when they had had teeth extracted before. 

"Miss E. C. has been afflicted with spinal irritation for 
-several years, so much so that she has been confined to her 
bed for several months ; she could not bear the least pressure 
about the spine. On being magnetised she could be scarified 
and cupped without any pain, and it only became necessary 
to magnetise the part to which I wished to apply the cup. 

" A son of Mr. G., 14 years old, had been subject to natural 
somnambulism, in which the organs of self-esteem and com- 
bativeness seemed to be the most active, though in character 
he was naturally diffident. In these paroxysms he would 
pay no respect to age ; whatever came in his way he considered 
himself equal to, as regards mental and physical powers. 
These paroxysms would last from two to four hours. What- 
ever attempts were made to arouse him served to excite his 
combative feelings, and he was ready to encounter any thing 
that came in his way. The paroxysm could be brought on 
at any time when he was asleep, by partially arousing him 
and leaving him to himself for a few minutes. He would get 
up and put something on him, sometimes his clothes, at others 
some portion of the bedclothes, and present himself wherever 
the family were. The first time that he was attempted to be 
magnetized in these paroxysms, the effect was but partial : 
on the second attempt the effect was fully produced ; and by 
exciting other portions of the brain, he became perfectly 
quiet, and has not had a paroxysm since, now three months. 
" Yours, in much haste, 

" SOLOMON BARRETT." 

"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 



FROM DOCTOR CLEAVELAND. 

"Providence, August 4th, 1843. 
"Dear Sir: In compliance with your request, I have 
made several experiments upon the memory, or rather upon 
the power of recalling events, which have proved very sat- 
isfactory. 

" The first experiment consisted in inducing the mind to 
recall, or to be impressed with all or any of the past events 
31* 



366 NEW APPENDIX. 

of life, back to the earliest period possible. Many incidents 
of maturer years, which had long been forgotten, were men- 
tioned with a perfect remembrance of their occurrence, not 
however by the ordinary means of the accidental association 
of ideas, but, as it were, by a sadden impression. The 
events of earlier life, without that clearness of memory as to 
their certainty, were very distinctly and minutely recalled and 
described, as were those that occurred at a period of life so 
early as not to be substantiated by the evidence of memory, 
but appearing like dreams. Events that took place before 
the magnetized was ten months old, were by her perfectly 
and very minutely described, although she had to depend 
upon ihe testimony of oihers, as to their reality. Individuals 
were described and called by name, whom she had not seen, 
or whose names she had not heard mentioned, since she was 
two years old, more than twenty years ago. The events of 
infancy and early childhood, appeared more to her like a 
dream than a reality. The restraints under which she was 
placed when she became able to creep about house — the cir- 
cumstance of falling down stairs, and the person who took 
her up — her first attempts to walk — her peculiar favorites, &c. 
&c. — all of which occurred before she was eleven months old, 
were described with much feeling and accuracy, as tested by 
the recollection of others of the family, who were surprised 
at her mentioning them without knowing the reason of her 
doing so. 

" These exercises were continued two days. The mind was 
then directed to the recalling of particular events. I say di- 
rected, for in these experiments, my subject was not consult- 
ed. The influence was exerted while she was in a magnetic 
state, and the arrangements made the day previous to their 
going into action. 

" So perfect was the success of this second experiment, 
that sermons, prayers, &c. which she had heard seventeen 
years ago, when only eight years of age, and which had not 
been thought of for years, were so perfectly recalled, that 
she could readily repeat large portions of them. 

" These experiments have resulted with several patients 
with the same success. 

" I have also been enabled to direct the mind to any sub- 
ject for study and meditation, with the greatest intensity and 
abstractedness, for any given period of time. 

"I have been induced to communicate these observations, 
with the hope that others, better qualified, may be led to im- 
prove thereon, and reduce them to some important results. 

" In the 8th chapter of the Practical Instruction, some ob- 
servations are made on the transmission of pain. My own 



NEW APPENDIX. 367 

•experience accords with that of Deleuze. One of my patients, 
a lady twenty-five years of age, was afflicted with an inflam- 
mation of the mucous membrane of the throat; for which I 
had, on a former occasion, treated her in the ordinary way 
with very poor success. She was now so unwell as to be una- 
ble to swallow any thing but fluids. After being Mesmerised 
twice, she was enabled, the next day, to partake of food as 
usual. But as for myself, I found it very troublesome to eat ; 
my throat was inflamed, exhibiting an actual transference of 
the symptoms of her disorder to myself. As this was not the 
customary fee for medical service, I went on the third day, 
and told my patient that I meant to return the complaint 
which had been transferred to me. 

" I then made a [ew passes from my own throat towards 
her's. The succeeding day I found myself relieved, and my 
patient was afflicted as before. 

" Neuralgia seems to yield readily to the Mesmeric action, 
so far as my own practice is concerned. A short time ago I 
was called upon to visit a lady twenty-iwo years of age, who 
had for four days been prostrated by a severe nervous pain 
in the head. She could neither sit up, nor endure to be 
raised from the bed. She was cured in three visits, within 
thirty-six hours, so as to attend to her affairs in perfect health. 

"A sudden blow or shock has been known to throw per- 
sons into a sort of somnambulic state ; and belore I relate 
the next case, I will give the relation once made to me by a 
carpenter. He was at work on a building; he fell from the 
staging to the ground. '■As T struck the ground? said he, 
i I suddenly bounded up, seeming to have a new body, and to 
be standing among the spectators looking at my old one. I 
saw them trying to bring it to. I made several fruitless efforts 
to re-enter my body, and finally succeeded /' 

''Tetanus. — A scuffle which I witnessed, took place in 
the street between two men at a short distance from my resi- 
dence. I seized one of them who had thrown the other down, 
and held him fast; but as the fallen man was rising, he re- 
ceived a kick from his antagonist directly in the eye. The 
blow was very severe and from a heavy boot ; he staggered 
and fell, struggling to rise again repeatedly, and plunging 
headlong to the ground. Frightful spasms and convulsions 
and furions raving succeeded. He was taken to his own 
house, by three or four men, where he continued to rave and 
rattle on incoherently, taking no notice of any one present. 
Opium was exhibited without effect. There was great diffi- 
culty in swallowing, on account of the spasmodic affection, 
and an appearance like one laboring under hydrophobia. It 
required two or three men to hold him. 



368 NEW APPENDIX. 

"Intending to Mesmerise him, I could scarcely retain his 
hands, which he twitched from me several times with vio- 
lence. But I persevered, and at length, in ten or fifteen min- 
utes, the spasms began to yield. In about thirty minutes he 
recognised me, expressing great satisfaction at my having 
come to see him, still taking no notice of any one else, but be- 
ing perfectly quiet. (He seemed all the time to suppose him- 
self in a certain old building in Foster.) 

"I then put him in communication with his wife, of whose 
presence he was not before aware. He expressed his joy at 
seeing her, and talked of his being still kept in that " infer- 
nal old building," meaning the house in Foster. 

" As he remained tranquil, I left him for the night in com- 
munication with his wife, directing her to withdraw her com- 
munication by a wave of the hand, if he should prove trouble- 
some before my return. This she was obliged to do, and he 
could no longer recognise her, or be conscious of her pres- 
ence. 

"In the morning, I found him in the same condition, except 
the tetanic symptoms, talking wildly as before. As soon as 
I took his hand, he recognised me, complained of his situa- 
tion, and wanted me to go home with him. The hint this sug- 
gested, I took him home in the usual Mesmeric way. 

"As soon as we arrived, his whole appearance changed. 
He seemed pleased and called for his wife, whom he forth- 
with discovered in another pari; of the house, putting together 
fuel for a fire. (A passage or entry intervened between the 
two rooms, and both doors were shut.) His words were: — 
1 Now I want to see my wife — I see her — she is making a 
fire in the bed room.' 

" When his wife came in, I established the communica- 
tion between them, and shortly after restored him to the natu- 
ral state. His recovery ensued without any return of the 
tetanic symptoms. The peculiar state of the patient is ob- 
servable ; for, in ordinary cases, tetanus is not accompanied 
by delirium, which in this case may be accounted for by the 
injury sustained by the brain. It is characterized by the 
powers of thought and sensation remaining unimpaired, and 
this distinguishes it from epilepsy. The mesmeric, or rather 
somnambulic state, may be brought on by an accident of this 
nature, as in the instance given above, of a carpenter's fall- 
ing from a scaffold. 

"You will recollect, my dear sir, that in 1837, I wrote you 
a letter in reference to the influence which may be exerted 
over the faculties of somnambulists, especially cheerfulness, 
hope, order and charily. That letter was not published in 
your Appendix, but I perceive that you have referred to it, 



NE.V APPENDIX. 



369 



and quoted the very words of it on the 197th page of the Ap- 
pendix to your first edition,* which was issued in 1837. I re- 
fer to this, because, although I did not make use of manipu- 
lation, I by that extract, gave a hint to the phrenologist, which 
is certainly prior to any date hitherto claimed by those who 
have discovered the manipulatory process of exciting the or- 
gans. 

"Yours, &c. 

"THOMAS CLEAVELAND." 
" Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 



FROM DOCTOR CAPRON. 

"Providence, August 1, 1843. 

"Dear Sir: Since you informed me of your intention of 
publishing a revised edition of your translation of Deleuze's 
Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism, and desired that I 
might communicate to you any thing upon this subject which 
I deemed of sufficient interest, to insert in the appendix, it 
has occurred to me that it might not be uninteresting to the 
public to be briefly informed of the sequel of the case of 
Miss L. Brackett, some account of which I furnished for the 
former edition of this work. 

"This case appears to me the more interesting, as being 
one of the first which attracted much public attention, and 
gave a more decided impulse to the investigation of the sub- 
ject of animal magnetism, than it derived from any other 
source. 

" Had it not been for a few cases which occurred in this 
city and vicinity, it is not improbable that it \vould have been 
in a great measure neglected, and comparatively little known 
upon the subject, 'n this country, at this time. Besides, it 
appears to me that justice to Miss Brackett, demands some 
further notice of her case. 

"It will be recollected by all who had any knowledge of 
the events of the year 1837, in which the cases above referred 
to were the cause of so much excitement throughout the coun- 
try, that she, in common it is true with others, was basely slan- 
dered by those who had no knowledge of her or of magnet- 
ism ; and owing to her peculiar situation, she has been obliged 
to wait patiently for time and circumstances to exculpate her 
from the imputation of witchcraft or imposture. It must be 
peculiarly gratifying to her, however, as well as lo her friends, 
lo be conscious of having outlived this slander, and to know 



* See page 356 of the present edition* 



370 NEW APPENDIX. 

that the time has arrived when no one, who is not either wil- 
fully ignorant or blindly prejudiced, will presume to deny the 
occasional existence of the phenomena developed in her case. 

"Among all the cases which have come to my knowledge, 
I know of no one more interesting than this— no one in which 
a greater number of the somnambulic phenomena have been 
developed or were more clearly manifested. If some new 
phases have since been observed, it is perhaps because the 
science, and manner of conducting experiments, are better 
understood, rather than because the subjects have been more 
lucid. 

" Before Miss Brackett left Providence, she had good rea- 
sons for hoping that her health and sight would ultimately be 
perfectly restored, should the magnetic treatment, to which 
she had then been subjected for four or five months, be con- 
tinued. The recovery of her voice, the improvement of her 
sight and general health, which were evidently the effect of 
this treatment, were the grounds of those hopes ; but she was 
doomed to a different fate. 

"Her friends, who were at a distance, and had not the 
means of obtaining correct information respecting magnet- 
ism, believing all the idle and ridiculous reports which were 
then so rife, thought proper to remove her. 

" This injudicious measure, and the exciting circumstance 
attending it, in addition to the discontinuance of the mag- 
netic treatment, were the cause of a very unfavorable change 
in her health, both of body and mind. 

"From the indisposition into which she was at that time 
thrown, she did not recover for more than a year and a 
half. 

"After having been magnetized almost daily for so long 
a time, it is not strange that some marked change should 
follow the sudden discontinuance of the practice. It should 
be remarked, that her mind had been somewhat deranged at 
times, previous to her commencing this treatment, but that 
she had since been perfectly sane, except on a few occasions 
when some other persons than myself were permitted to mag- 
netize her. 

"The supervention of some disorganizing disease in her 
eyes, soon after her leaving Providence, destroyed all hope of 
her sight ever being restored ; and as soon as her health 
was sufficiently improved, she was admitted into the Perkins 
Institution for the Blind; her destination when I incidentally 
became acquainted with her. Since she has been at the in- 
stitution, she has frequently been magnetized, and until with- 
in the last year, continued to be as susceptible and clairvoy- 
ant as when in Providence, six years ago. Within the last 



NEW APPENDIX. 371 

year, however, although she can be put into the magnetic 
state, she has nothing of this power ; which she accounts for 
by having gained a more perfect state of health. 

" That she has been very much benefitted by the magnetic 
treatment, neither she, nor any one who is acquainted with 
her case, entertains a doubt; and if she has not been entirely 
restored, she has been sustained and rendered comparatively 
comfortable, under a much greater load of affliction than 
usually falls to the lot of humanity.* 

" She has now been at the Institution five years, during 
which time her intelligence, industry and exemplary conduct, 
have secured to her a comfortable and agreeable home, the 
esteem, the sincere, and to her, invaluable friendship of the 
Superintendant, and the love and affection of the inmates of 
the Institution generally. 

"Having, for the last five or six years, given but little atten- 
tion to the subject of animal magnetism : only practising it 
occasionally, as a remedial agent, I have not been able to 
carry into effect the intention expressed, in my former com- 
munication of following out a classification of the phenomena, 
and thereby arriving at some rational theory; as, however, I had 
at that time formed an opinion, upon this subject, and adopt- 
ed a theory, founded upon my previous observations and re- 
flections, which I thought it would be premature to publish, 
and as I have not yet seen any well grounded reasons for 
changing the views which I then entertained, I will endeav- 
or to mould this theory, into as condensed and intelligible a 
form, as the difficulty of the subject and my limited time will 
admit. Should it appear to you that it possesses sufficient 
merit to be brought before the public, it will be at your dis- 
posal. 

" This theory, which from the commencement of my prac- 
tice in magnetism, has appeared to me to be the most satis- 
factory, is based upon the following principles, and hypothe- 
ses ; all of which I believe to be demonstrable by experiments, 
or are the legitimate inferences of well grounded reasonings, 
viz : — 

" That there is, pervading the whole created universe, an 
inconceivably fine elastic, invisible, imponderable fluid or aura, 
serving as a medium of communication, and a bond of union 

* Among other afflictions, any of which were sufficient to weigh down 
the strongest heart, she has, for the last three years, been in a great mea- 
sure deprived of ihe use of her lower limbs, in consequence of an injury 
received upon her spine. This has of course diminished very much her 
ability of being useful in the Institution, and deprived her of the oppor- 
tunity of reaping that amount of benefit from an education, which she 
might have otherwise expected. 



372 NEW APPENDIX. 

to all its parts ; that this fluid is every where essentially the 
same, but is manifested under a number of different modifi- 
cations, among which are Electricity, Electro-Magnetism, 
Voltaism or Galvanism, Mineral Magnetism, Animal Mag- 
netism, Elective and Cohesive Attraction, and Attraction of 
Gravitation; and consequently that the same agent that gives 
impulse and motion to the heavenly bodies, and retains them 
in their respective spheres, puts in motion the wheel upon an 
Electromagnetic apparatus, and binds together the particles 
of matter in the smallest pebble ; that through the agency 
of this fluid, every thing in nature has a particular sphere of 
action ; and that no material body, however nearly or re- 
motely situated, can act upon, or influence another, except 
through some medium ; that nervous fluid, sensorial power, 
energy of the brain, &c, of different authors, are only so 
many names for animal magnetism, or a manifestation of this 
general principle, in connection with living animal matter, 
and that the phenomena, to which the terms animal Magnet- 
ism and Mesmerism are popularly applied, are peculiar or ab- 
nominal developements of this particular modification. 

" This fluid I suppose to be the primum mobile, or main 
spring of created nature, and that in whatever way it may at 
first have been brought into existence and put into operation, 
the quantity is ever the same, and cannot as a whole be in- 
creased or diminished, but is constantly varying in particular 
places and objects. We know not but it may be the fluid 
which fills that space in the universe, which would otherwise 
be a vacuum, the Ether of the ancients, the soul of nature, 
an emanation from God himself. 

" It would be interesting to enter into a consideration of 
each of these hypotheses particularly, but the want of oppor- 
tunity and the impossibility of condensing such a mass of 
matter into a reasonable compass, for a communication of this 
kind, will oblige me to limit myself to a few remarks. 

" That there is such a fluid or agent as above supposed, I 
think will be admitted by all who duly consider the subject, 
whatever may be thought of the views I have taken of its va- 
rious modifications; without it, in fact, the works of creation 
would be incomplete, as we should see a thousand effects for 
which there would be no assignable cause. Indeed, few 
natural phenomena can be accounted for upon any other sup- 
position. 

" When in conversation with a learned gentleman, six 
years since, I suggested the idea that electricity, galvanism, 
the nervous fluid, &c. might be only different manifestations 
of the same fluid, he observed that it was unphilosophical to 
attribute these various effects to the same agent ; that philos- 



NEW APPENDIX. 373 

lophy taught, on the contrary, that there were more elemen- 
tary principles than had formerly been supposed, and there- 
fore that these different manifestations were more likely to be 
^dependent upon distinct agents. This, as a general princi- 
ple in physics, is no doubt true ; I can but believe, however, 
that the instance under consideration, is an exception to the 
rule. 

" If it can be established that electricity, galvanism, elec- 
tro-magnetism, and the nervous fluid are identical, I see no 
reason why the other properties of matter which have been 
enumerated above, including light and heat, may not be 
equally referable to the -same general principle. 

"'Every step' says an anonymous writer in the Boston 
Medical and Surgical Journal, Sept. 10, 1837, ' made in the 
progress of science, tends farther to generalize the laws 
which regulate the motions and affections of matter. Grav- 
itation, electricity, magnetism, light, heat, chemical attraction, 
have approximated so far towards unity, that it is easier to 
say in what they resemble each other, than to point out in 
what they differ.' 

" A great number and variety of experiments, which are 
familiar to every one at all conversant with the subject, have 
been made to establish the identity of the nervous and gal- 
vanic fluids, which, though there are some who think differ- 
ently, I believe has been very conclusively done. 

" Dr. Good, who seems to have summed up and put into 
an agreeable form most of what is known upon the subjects 
of which he treats, in speaking of the principle of life, ob- 
serves, 'every one in the present day, has some knowledge 
of galvanism and voltaism ; every one has witnessed some 
of those curious and astonishing effects which the voltaic 
fluid is capable of operating on the muscles of an animal for 
many hours' after death ; and it only remains to be add«d, 
that since the discovery of this extraordinary power, oxygen 
has in its turn fallen a sacrifice to the voltaic fluid, and this 
last has been contemplated by numerous physiologists, as 
constituting the principle of life ; as a fluid received into the 
animal system from without, and stimulating its different or- 
gans into vital action.' 

" ' The identity,' says Wilson Phillip, in his work on Life, ' of 
galvanic electricity and nervous influence, is established by 
these experiments !' 

" In the experiments above referred to, the galvanic fluid 
has often been substituted for the nervous, and the functions 
dependent upon a supply of this power, have been performed 
in the same manner as though they had received this ne- 
cessary stimulus directly from the sensorium. 
32 



374 NEW APPENDIX. 

" The supposition that galvanic electricity and sensorial 
power are only different developements of the same general 
principle, derives great support from the fact that there are 
occasional instances of persons in whom this fluid accumu- 
lates to such an excess as to exhibit sensible effects. It is 
not long since there was published what appeared to be an 
authentic account of a lady, in a neighboring State, who 
when approached by another person, or had applied to any 
part of her body any of the conductors of electricity, gave 
off electric sparks, like one who had been highly charged 
with this fluid by an electrical machine. 

" A similar case was communicated to Silliman's Journal, 
and republished in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 
Jan. 24th, 1843, which is so much to the point that I shall 
take the liberty to transcribe it. 

"Extraordinary Case of Electrical Excitement. — Dr. 
Hosford, of Orford, N. H., relates, in the last number of Sil- 
liman's Journal, the case of a lady in that town, who became 
unconsciously charged with electricity at the time of the oc- 
currence of an unusual aurora borealis, on the 25th of Janu- 
ary, 1837. This extraordinary state continued until the mid- 
dle of the following May, during most of which time she was 
capable of giving electrical sparks to every conducting body 
that came within the sphere of her electrical influence. When 
her finger was brought within one sixteenth of an inch of a 
metallic body, a spark that was heard, seen and felt, passed 
every second. When seated motionless, with her feet on the 
iron stove-hearth, three or four sparks per minute would pass 
to the stove, notwithstanding the insulation of her shoes and 
silk hosiery. When most favorably circumstanced, four sparks 
per minute of one inch and a half, would pass from the end of 
her finger to a brass ball on the stove ; these were quite bril- 
liant, distinctly seen and heard in any part of a large room, 
and sharply felt when they passed to another person. These 
experiments were so often repeated, that there was no doubt 
left of their actual occurrence. The lady had no internal 
evidence of this faculty, which was only manifest to her when 
the sparks left her. Her health had never been good, though 
she had seldom been confined to her bed. She had suffered 
much from unseated neuralgia in various parts of her system, 
for some months previous to her electrical developement. Her 
health is now better than for many years. Dr. H. thinks this 
phenomena was not caused by the aurora alluded to, but that 
it was an appendage of the animal system. 

" The astonishing electric powers of the gymnotus or elec- 



NEAT APPENDIX. 375 

trie eel, and of the torpedo, are well known instances of the 
same condition of the animal system, continuing permanently. 
In these fishes, this power, which appears to be a weapon of 
defence, is evidently under the control of the will. 

" The hook'd torpedo, with instinctive force, 
Calls all his magic from its secret source ; 
And through the hook, the line, the taper pole, 
Throws to th' offending arm his stern control. 
The palsied fisherman, in dumb surprise, 
Feels through his frame the chilling vapors rise, 
Drops the vain rod, and seems in stiffening pain, 
Some frost-fixed wanderer o'er the icy plain." 

"'We now know,' says Dr. Good, from whom the above 
lines are quoted, ' something of the medium through which 
this animal operates, and have no difficulty in referring it to 
an electric or voltaic aura, and can even trace a kind of vol- 
taic apparatus in its structure.' 

" It is through the medium of the sensorial power or nerv- 
ous fluid, the identity of which with the galvanic, I consider 
established beyond a reasonable doubt that the mind acts 
upon the different organs of the body, and stimulates them 
into an obedience to will ; it is, as it were, the messenger of 
the sensorium, and if not life itself, is as essential to it as or- 
ganization, and forms a connecting link between the intellec- 
tual soul and inert matter. 

" In whatever manner this fluid is generated, whether se- 
creted from the blood, and consequently derived from the 
aliments taken into the system, or absorbed from the sur- 
rounding atmosphere, and other objects with which the body 
may come in contact, its production and concentration in an 
available state, is undoubtedly a function of the brain and its 
appendages; which may in this particular be compared to a 
galvanic battery. From this battery, it is conducted off more 
or less constantly, through appropriate conductors, to supply 
the expenditure in the different parts of the system. To the 
heart, respiratory and other organs, whose functions are con- 
stant and involuntary, the supply, in a state of health, is ne- 
cessarily continuous ; but to those organs whose functions are 
under the control of the will, and not constant, it is irregular, 
and proportioned to the demand. It is necessary to observe 
that I have reference here to the sensible or more obvious 
effects of the sensorial power ; and that excitability, or a sus- 
ceptibility of being stimulated into action, is dependent upon 
the constant presence of a greater or less proportion of this 
same principle, which is in a comparatively latent state. 

"I have assumed as a principle that through the medium 



376 new appendix:. 

under consideration, every thing in nature, every heavenly 
body, from the largest suns to the smallest satellites, every 
human being, animal, vegetable, and even the most minute 
particle of matter, has a particular sphere of action and re- 
ciprocal influence, varied perhaps by circumstances with 
which we are unacquainted, and limited by laws, few of 
which are yet understood. 

" This sphere of action, in the animal system, at least, in 
its most obvious manifestation, is limited by the extremities- 
of the nervous filaments. If we will a hand or finger to move 
in a particular direction, the motion is instantaneously per- 
formed, every other part of the system, perhaps, remain- 
ing at rest. This action is evident to our senses, and it is 
equally evident to- our reason, that some messenger must 
have been sent to the muscles performing the motion, inform- 
ing them of the requirements of the will, or in other words, 
that there is some ethereal medium through which the mind 
acts upon these organs. The sensorial power is- limited here, 
however, only in its most obvious operations ; it has, even in its 
ordinary influences, a much more extended sphere of action, 
which is manifested in a thousand different ways : — the inde- 
scribable influence that some persons have over others, an influ- 
ence which cannot be imaginary or mistaken ; the same 
thoughts occurring simultaneously to different individuals who* 
are in the presence of each other ; the influence exerted by 
some persons over horses, dogs and other animals, and which 
is sometimes known to disarm the fury of the most enraged 
and vicious wild beasts of the forest. 

"Fascination, or charming, and the torporific influence of 
some individuals, and even tribes, over poisonous serpents 
and scorpions, completely disarming- them of their deadly 
powers, is probably allied to that of the torpedo and electric 
eel, and may be exerted at the pleasure of the possessor. 

" A circumstance worthy of notice, which varies very much 
the potency of the sensorial influence, and enlarges its sphere 
of action, and which may also be considered among its natu- 
ral operations, is a state of joy or grief, anger, &c. producing^ 
that wonderful and most useful affection, sympathy ; an affec- 
tion of which I am not aware that any very satisfactory ex- 
planation has ever been given-. 

" The excitement of joy, grief, and other strong emotions 
and passions, rapidly increases the production of the senso- 
rial fluid, and an unusual accumulation in the sensorium, i^ 
the consequence. This over charged state of the sensorium, 
is the cause of a more than ordinary radiation or projection 
of this fluid, increasing very much its influence. This radia- 
tioa may be compared to light passing off from luminous 



NEW APPENDIX. 377 

bodies, or to currents of galvanism passing from one metal to 
another — and all who may be within the sphere of its action, 
and who are sufficiently susceptible, will experience from its 
influence the emotion of sympathy. The kind of emotion or 
passion giving rise to the accumulation, so modifies the influ- 
ence that the emotion caused is of the same nature as the 
original. 

"Every person must have observed the different degrees 
with which he sympathizes with different individuals, under 
what appear to be the same circumstances, and perhaps has 
reproached himself with cold-heartedness, because he did not 
feel that emotion of the soul, and that irresistible flow of 
moisture to the eye, which he conceived such distresses of his 
fellow beings should excite. Who has not, on the contrary, 
experienced this emotion in a degree which did not seem 
called for by the circumstances of the case? This may be ac- 
counted for by the various degrees of nervous influence which 
different persons are capable of exerting, and also by the 
various degrees of susceptibility of different individuals, and 
even of the same individual at different times. 

"Dr. Good, under the article Sympathy and Fascination, 
says, ' The corollary, then, resulting from these observations, 
is, that in the animal system as well as in organic nature, 
bodies in various instances act where they are not, and 
through channels of influence or communication with which 
we are altogether unacquainted.' 

" Perhaps there is no saying more frequently repeated, or 
more generally believed, figuratively, than the old one, that 
{ the devil is always near when you are talking about him.' 
How often are we accosted with ' How do you do ! We 
were just talking about you !' And I would inquire if it is 
not only possible, but even probable, that that principle which 
emanates from the sensorium, constituting a medium of com- 
munication and reciprocal influence, may not precede an in- 
dividual, and being, of course, strongly directed, by the will, 
upon those persons whom he expects to see at the place of his 
destination, excite in their sensoria, thoughts, and consequent- 
ly conversation about him ? 

"The sympathies between different parts of the same body 
are numerous, and so familiar to every one, as to render it 
unnecessary to make any farther remark upon this subject, 
than to suggest the idea that they are dependent upon unu- 
sual accumulations in the particular organs which are the 
seat of disease, and that a radiation or projection may take 
place from these organs, which have become so many distinct 
batteries, and falling upon such other parts of the system as 
32* 



$78 NEW APPENDIX. 

are obnoxious to the sympathetic influence, produce" more or 
less functional derangement. 

"In connexion with this part of the subject, it would be in- 
teresting to make some remarks upon' the sympathies and other 
affections of plants, but it would be incompatible with my pres- 
ent design to do more than to allude to this interesting topic. 
Here too we have evidences that every thing has its sphere 
of action and communication, as is exemplified by the recip- 
rocal attraction and influence observed between the different 
parts of the same flower, and between different flowers some- 
what remote from each other, when the males and females 
are situated in different houses. WeFe vegetables endowed 
with locomotion, we should doubtless witness more daring 
exploits among^ them, than swimming the Hellespont ;, if we 
may judge from the conduct of the gallant Vallesneria, an 
aquatic and disecious plant, the male blossom of which is said 
to cast itself upon the bosom of the waters and heroically float 
away in search of a bride, and when he arrives within a cer- 
tain distance of her dwelling, to approach it even against the 
wind and current. 

"Design is evident in every department oi nature. Nothing 
is left to chance. And the poet has truly said that 

f All nature is but art, unknown to thee, 

All chance, direction which thou canst not see.' 

"The sphere of reciprocalinfluenee of plants is not confined 
to the sympathy manifested between different parts of the 
same plant, or plants of the same species, but is occasionally 
met with in a sensible degree between those which are pecu- 
liarly sensitive and living animal matter. The effect produ<- 
ced upon the sensitive plant, by handling, is a familiar instance. 

' Weak with nice sense, the chaste Mimosa stands, 
From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands.' 

" Dr, Darwin, from whom these lines are quoted, is inclined 
to the opinion that the sudden dropping and collapse of the 
leaflets of this- plant, when touched, are owing to' a ' numb- 
ness or paralysis consequent to too violent irritation, like the 
faintings of animals, from pain or fatigue.' 

" The supposition that both are the effects of exhaustion, 
of what in animals is called the sensorial power, is probably 
correct, but in the case of the sensitive plant, the effect is so 
sudden that it appears more rational to suppose that the elec- 
tric or sensorial fluid is conducted off suddenly by the hand, 
which may have a greater affinity for it. 

" The phenomena heretofore very imperfectly considered, 
are among the more constant and natural operations of thi* 



NEW APPENDIX. 379 

universal magnetic or galvanic fluid, the existence and uni- 
versal diffusion of which has been assumed as a principle. 
There is still another class of phenomena which are less con- 
stant, more irregular in their manifestations, and, the laws of 
which, are but very imperfectly understood. To these the terms 
animal magnetism, and Mesmerism are popularly applied. 

"In regard to the use of the term animal magnetism, I see 
no greater objection to it than might be urged against any 
other that has been suggested, and as it has already obtained 
general currency, not only here but if I mistake not, through- 
out Europe, it will not be easily supplanted, by that of Mes- 
merism, which some have adopted. 

" The process of putting the system into this peculiar or ab- 
normal condition called somnambulism, manipulating, or 
magnetizing, as owing its discovery toMesmer, may properly 
be called Mesmerising ; but when speaking of the fluid itself, 
I know of no good reason for the exchange. Should the term 
Mesmerism be generally adopted, the compound one, Phreno- 
magnetism would require to be exchanged for Phreno-Mes- 
merism, as there would not be a proper correspondence be- 
tween the terras. 

" The term Pathetism has also of late been proposed, and 
almost exclusively employed in the Magnet, a periodical pub- 
lished in New York, by La Roy Sunderland, and I am not 
philologist enough to discover any objection to the term itself, 
but I very much doubt the propriety of introducing any new 
terms, unless we are sure that they are not only better than 
the old ones, but also that they will be generally adopted. 

" If the view which I have taken of the subject be correct, 
we shall find no term more expressive of the thing meant 
than Animal Magnetism, or Animal Electricity, until we 
have a scientific term for the general agent, from which to 
derive a' part of the name of each of its modifications. 

"By the process of Magnetizing, or Mesmerizing, the sen- 
sorial fluid may be increased or diminished, in the whole sys- 
tem, or any particular part of it, according to the will of the 
magnetizer and the manner of performing the operation, 
thereby communicating to the different organs of the body, 
increased action and power, or depriving them, at will, of 
that of which they are possessed. All the phenomena of 
somnambulism may be accounted for by the different condi- 
tions of the system, in respect to the quantity and distribu- 
tion of the fluid above referred to. Exhaust the sensorium of 
this principle, and a state of coldness and stiffness resembling 
death is the consequence. A case of this kind I witnessed 
in the summer of '37, in a young lady, who was magnet- 
ised by Dr. B. of this city. There was in this case complete 



380 NEW APPENDIX. 

insensibility to all surrounding objects, and to pain ; to test 
which a sufficient number of experiments was instituted.-— 
Deprive an organ of its necessary proportion of it, and it will 
be paraHsed and cease to obey the will : but communicate to 
the same organ, by a strong effort of the will, an increased 
proportion, and unusual energy will be produced. A consid- 
erable number of experiments have lately been witnessed by 
the public in this city, which very conclusively establish the 
truth of the foregoing remark ; among these experiments the 
one which appeared to me the most interesting, and convinc- 
ing, was that of diminishing the action of the heart, reducing 
its pulsations nearly one-third, in the course of a few minutes. 
There could be no collusion here. 

" But it is unnecessary to particularize, my design being 
to propose a theory which if well grounded every one can 
apply to practice — if not it will be a waste of words to dwell 
upon particulars. 

" Never having given much attention to Phreno-Magnet- 
ism, this being a branch of the subject which has taken its 
rise since I have had an opportunity of experimenting, I feel 
inadequate to express an opinion upon it; I would briefly 
observe however, that although I do not know of any experi- 
ments which conclusively establish the position that the dif- 
ferent organs of the brain can be magnetically excited singly, 
thus confirming the truth of both of the sciences incontrovert- 
ably ; I can conceive of no reason why this may not be the 
fact; as there is nothing in the supposition, tha't is opposed 
to the principles of either. 

" Most of what are now called preno-magnetic phenomena 
I have, it is true, witnessed in my own patients, especially 
Miss Brackett, from an effort of the will, without even think- 
ing that the brain was constituted of many different organs, 
performing their functions in some measure independently of 
each other. I may be allowed to suggest, that the experi- 
menter will find it difficult to distinguish between the direct 
magnetic effect upon an organ, and the operation of his will, as 
well as to make a proper allowance for the habits of the som- 
nambulist. 

" That some persons, in certain conditions, have a peculiar 
kind of vision, a peculiar sense, or a faculty of using their 
ordinary senses "in such a manner as to be enabled to obtain 
knowledge through some other channel than that of these 
senses in their natural state, is a fact so well established, that 
I believe no rational man, at this time, with the usual means 
of information, controverts it, however much it may militate 
against his own preconceived opinions, or those of the philoso- 
phers, the dogmas of whom he may have adopted as his rule 



NEW APPENDIX. 381 

of faith. To account for this strange phenomenon, which 
has frequently occurred spontaneously, as well as in the mag- 
netic sleep, is much more difficult than to establish the truth 
of its existence : — Not an uncommon case, in the mysterious 
works of nature. 

" The only approximation to a satisfactory hypothesis, it 
appears to me, is based upon the foregoing premises. If these 
premises are correct, we may suppose, that in certain pecu- 
liar conditions of the system, the sensorium may be preter- 
naturally charged with the sensorial, galvanic, or as it may 
with propriety be called, intelligent principle, and that an unu- 
sual emanation or radiation may be the consequence. This 
radiation I have compared to light passing off from luminous 
bodies, and may extend to indefinite distances, taking its im- 
pulse and direction from the will ; and, being endued with 
the greatest imaginable susceptibility, receive impressions 
from the objects to which it may be directed, and communicate 
them, probably, through some undulatory or vibratory mo- 
tion, to the sensorium. Impressions made through this me- 
dium upon the brain or sensorium, which is supposed to be in 
an exalted condition, are taken cognizance of, and the mind 
perceives them in the same manner that it does those which 
are made through the ordinary inlets or senses. 

" In the foregoing hypothesis, we have also the only rational 
explanation of mental communication, or the understanding 
the will without the use of language, an occasional operation 
of the mind, familiar to every one who has seen much of som- 
nambulism. It would seem that with persons in a highly 
magnetic condition, there is a commingling of spirits, not 
only with those individuals with whom they may be in com- 
munication, but sometimes, also, with others who may be 
present, as though there were an atmosphere of thought, and 
this sensorial emanation were sufficiently sensitive to receive 
distinct impressions from similar emanations from the sensoria 
of others. 

"It may not be irrelevant to the subject to observe, in this 
place, that through the agency of clairvoyance we are ena- 
bled to explain and reconcile with human reason, many mar- 
vellous and otherwise incredible phenomena, both of ancient 
and modern times, which have obtained general belief among 
mankind, but which have been rejected as fabulous by a few 
who are too bigoted to admit the existence of any phenome- 
non which cannot be accounted for by their philosophy. I 
have reference to second sight, ecstacy, trance, magic, for- 
tune-telling, withcraft, fascination or charming, and the an- 
cient oracles. 

"I am not unaware that there are some who account for 



382 NEW APPENDIX. 

the oracles entirely by priestcraft, and others by what is but 
little worse, the machinaiions of the Devil. That the former 
has been a fruitful source of imposture and deception, through 
all ages, I shall not attempt to controvert, but I believe it will 
be admitted by every candid person, that there must have 
been some other agency concerned in these oracles, which 
were a species of fortune-telling conducted upon a magnifi- 
cent scale, and claimed an alliance with the gods. In mod- 
ern times, this art is confined to more humble circumstances, 
and the artificers are vulgarly believed to ' make a league' 
with a very different being, who is supposed to claim their 
souls after death, as a recompense for his services while they 
are permitted to remain in their earthly tabernacles. 

" Rollin, after endeavoring, as it appears to me with but lit- 
tle success to discredit the Oracles, by the ambiguity of the 
language of the Gods in giving their answers, says, ' It must 
be confessed, however, that sometimes the answer of the Or- 
acle was clear and circumstantial,' and then relates two cases 
in corrobation of this reluctant confession. These were evi- 
dently nothing more nor less than cases of clairvoyance such 
as have been often witnessed in this city. 

" All or many of the circumstances related of the Oracles, 
are such as to establish almost conclusively that the answers 
were given by somnambulists. It appears that the sybil in 
some instances officiated at different Oracles. In speaking 
of the sybil of Delphos, this author observes that ' she was 
at the same time the sybil of Delphos, Eurythria, Babylon, 
Cuma and many other places, from having resided in them 
all' 

" The manner of producing the magnetic or somnambulic 
condition appears to have been very different from magnet- 
izing as practised at this time. It is probable however, that 
historians were not acquainted with the whole process, just 
enough having been permitted to escape through the walls of 
the temples to confound the curious without enlightening 
them. Or it is possible that this condition may be produced 
by intoxicating exhalations or vapors arising from substances 
with which we are at this time unacquainted. 

"Whether the priests and priestesses, themselves knew how 
they were enabled to divine what was hidden to others is 
matter of doubt, but it is not impossible that they really be- 
lieved in some divine assistance, being themselves deceived, 
rather than they who consulted them. 

" The ridiculous manner in which Rollin accounts for the 
occasional truth of the Oracles, is one of the many instances 
which prove to us that the greatest men are not exempt from 
the prejudices and superstitions of the age in which they live. 



NEW APPENDIX. 383 

" Dreaming in natural sleep appears to be of two kinds, both 
of which are explicable upon the principle of an emanation 
from the sensorium. In one kind the mind receives distinct 
and true impressions, of objects, and events, whether pres- 
ent or remote, in the same manner as it is supposed to do 
in magnetic somnambulism. This is clairvoyance occurring 
naturally or spontaneously, instances of which are too numer- 
ous to be set down to the account of ' remarkable coinciden- 
ce*.' 

" In the other kind, impressions are made upon the same 
intelligent principle and conveyed to the sensorium ; but the 
will which in other conditions directs its operations, and the 
perceptive faculties, being dormant and inactive, these im- 
pressions are consequently vague and indistinct, and percep- 
tion obscure and fleeting. 

"Why there should be so great a difference in the suscep- 
tibility of different individuals to the magnetic influence is 
difficult to explain, but it is probably dependent upon the quan- 
tity of that portion of the sensorial fluid which is constantly 
present in every part of the living system, constituting excit- 
ability, and upon the different degrees of affinity which differ- 
ent individuals have for this fluid. 

"The impossibility of putting every person to sleep by 
magnetizing is a sufficient reason with some for disbelieving 
every thing connected with the subject 5 I see no reason how- 
ever why they should not upon the same principle refuse to 
believe that opium will produce sleep ; for it is well known 
that this drug not only frequently fails to produce that effect 
but even makes some persons more wakeful ; and, I may add 
that the modus operandi of magnetism is no more difficult to 
comprehend than that of opium. 

"Although it is impossible to put some individuals into the 
magnetic sleep, I believe every one is susceptible in some de- 
gree to its influence and that it will frequently have a reme- 
dial effect without the slightest somnolency being produced. 

" Believing as I do in the universal diffusion of the mag- 
netic principle, I deem it not unreasonable to suppose that 
animals and even vegetables may also be in a greater or less 
degree susceptible to its influence. 

" That many diseases both general and local are dependent 
upon some irregularity in the supply of the sensorial fluid, re- 
sulting either from a deficient production of it in the sensori- 
um or from some imperfection in the conductors, is generally 
admitted, though scarcely any two authors employ the same 
language, in expressing their views upon this subject. What- 
ever the cause of the deficient or unequal distribution of this 
agent, it may often be considered as the primary derange- 



384 NEW APPENDIX. 

ment, and as the cause of a corresponding derangement in 
the circulation of the blood, and the performance of other 
functions necessary to health and life. These are the prima- 
ry or forming stages of diseases, and if arrested here there 
may be a restoration to health without any serious conse- 
quences, but being allowed to go on, disorganization may 
follow, and if an important organ be implicated, death will 
be the consequence. 

" The proximate causes of diseases are of so obscure a na- 
ture that they are but very imperfectly understood. All the 
different theories, of which there are a great number, are found- 
ed upon hypotheses. The closest observations and most pro- 
found researches extend no further than the effects of some 
unknown cause, which has preceded. The obvious reason 
of this is the inscrutable nature of life. Until we know 
more of life we shall remain in ignorance of the proximate 
causes of disease. 

" The most eminent men in the profession, however, have 
directed their researches to the sensorium, as the fountain 
head of diseased action. 

" Dr. Cullen, who seems to have had very clear views of 
the subject, calls the sensorial fluid the ' energy of the brain,' 
and says, ' all nervous power commences in the encephelon ; 
it consists in a motion, beginning in the brain, and propagated 
from thence into the nervous fibres, in which a contraction is 
to be produced. ' The power by which this motion is propa- 
gated, we name,' says he, ' the energy of the brain, and 
we therefore consider every modification of the motions pro- 
duced, as modifications of this energy.' 

" The theories of Brown and Darwin are founded upon 
the doctrine of accumulated and exhausted excitability or 
sensorial power ; only another mode of describing the same 
agent referred to by Cullen. 

" As the doctrine that the primary derangement in most 
diseases is in the sensorium, is generally acknowledged, it is 
matter of wonder that more attention has not been bestowed 
upon investigating the means of preventing and curing them 
through the agency of the sensorial fluid, before disorganiza- 
tion of the solids takes place. 

" This branch of the healing art, which has been left in a 
great measure uncultivated until the present age, is beginning 
to receive that attention which its importance demands. 
Should the investigation of this subject be continued with 
perseverance and in a proper manner, there can be no doubt 
that some further useful and interesting discoveries will be the 
result. 

" The exciting causes of epidemic diseases have been 



NEW APPENDIX. 385 

sought for in vain in the sensible conditions and various 
changes of the atmosphere. The degrees of heat, moisture, 
the proportions of its constituent elements, the wind, &c. have 
all been carefully observed, without throwing any light upon 
this obscure subject, but to prove that those properties, 
whether natural or adventitious, the proportions of which are 
susceptible of measurement or detection, have no agency in 
producing those affections, except as accessories ; and I would 
inquire to what source we shall direct our researches for these 
causes, if not to that universal but nameless property of all 
matter, whose effects are so evident, but whose essence has 
so far eluded discovery. 

" In my former communication to you, I expressed my opin- 
ion of the remedial effects of magnetizing ; and this opinion 
has been strengthened by my subsequent experience and ob- 
servation. I am, in fact, as well grounded in the belief that 
many nervous and other diseases, in which disorganization 
of the solids has not taken place, may be cured or palliated 
by this means, as I am that electricity and galvanism some- 
times produce beneficial effects ; and even where disorganiza- 
tion has taken place, some benefit may be derived from it, by 
diminishing excitement and relieving pain. 

"In the present imperfect state of our knowledge of the 
causes of disease, and the manner of applying this remedy, 
we shall always be in danger of making a wrong application 
of it, and consequently of defeating, rather than accomplish- 
ing our object. Itis from this cause that electricity has fallen 
into disrepute and neglect, not that its properties, or the char- 
acter of diseases have changed. 

" I do not feel competent to enter fully into the various 
methods of magnetizing in different diseases, neither should I 
deem it necessary or proper on the present occasion, having 
already exceeded the limits of my original design ; but I will 
take the liberty to make a very few general remarks, which 
I presume will be found applicable to a large proportion of the 
cases likely to be benefitted by this treatment. 

" In treating diseases by magnetizing, as w T ell as other 
remedial agents, we should endeavor, as far as possible, in 
the first place, to ascertain by the symptoms the nature of 
the affection ; whether there is a surplus or deficiency of sen- 
sorial power in the system generally, or in any particular 
part where the disease may be located. We shall thereby 
establish a mode of proceeding which will aid very essen- 
tially the concentration of the will, and consequently aug- 
ment the effect of the manipulations. 

" In the second place, before attempting to operate particu- 
33 



386 NEW APPENDIX. 

larly upon the diseased part, we should, if possible, establish 
a communication with the patient, by magnetizing the brain 
and its appendages, the spinal cord, &c, as our success will 
be much more certain than if we commence upon the disease 
without this preparation of the system. I do not, however, 
consider this indispensably necessary, as much benefit will 
sometimes be derived from an exclusively local operation. 

" Coldness, paleness and loss of motion or feeling, are indica- 
tions of a deficient supply of the vital fluid ; heat, redness, 
swelling and pain, indicate a superabundance, and spasms an 
unequal distribution of it. In the first of these states, we 
should endeavor to restore heat and action, by communica- 
ting to the part the magnetic or vivifying principle ■ in the 
second, our efforts should be directed to calling it off, and 
thereby diminishing excitement, and assisting nature in re- 
storing the part to a healthy condition : in the last, our object 
will be to equalize the excitement, by diffusing the fluid over 
the system. 

"Allow me sir, to say, in conclusion, that no one can be 
more sensible than myself, of the imperfect manner in which 
I have fulfilled my promise of moulding this theory into a 
condensed and intelligible form, and it is with some degree 
of reluctance that I consent to its publication. 

" As an apology for whatever faults may be observed in 
manner or matter, to the difficulty of the subject and my lim- 
ited time, I may add, and hope a due allowance will be made, 
for the frequent interruptions incident to a professional life. 
"Respectfully yours, 

«G. CAPRON. 
"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 

[The work of Wilson Phillip, quoted at the 373d page in the above 
article, is entitled " The Vital Functions."] 



NOTE XXXVII. 

Neurology. — The following letter, from Dr. Buchanan, 
will be read with interest by all who have had an opportuni- 
ty to witness his experiments. His classes in New York. 
Boston, and other places, have been formed among men of 
science and literature, and composed chiefly of such, embra- 
cing many physicians ; and they have, in several published 
reports, expressed a very favorable opinion, both of Dr. Bn ■ 
shanan as a man, and of his system, as demonstrable by ex- 
periments. Some accounts of these experiments, which are 
oerformed on persons in the natural state, have been given in 



NEW APPENDIX. 387 

the periodicals : but the public will soon have Dr. Buchan- 
an's exposition of his own system. Dr. Buchanan possesses 
learning and science, and the talent of applying them. His 
error, if he has fallen into one, may consist in supposing the 
absence of the vis voluntatis in his experiments ; for he says 
that some of these effects can be produced by the will alone. 
But whatever fate may befall his theory, his facts are very 
novel in character, and easy to be tested ; and cannot fail to 
attract the attention of philosophic minds. 

u Providence, April 12, 1843. 
"Sir: The sketch of the principles of Neurology which 
you desire, may be given in a few words, notwithstanding 
the intricacy and magnitude of the science. It would require 
a library to give us a just and full conception of the subject, 
although the cardinal principles of the science may be stated 

i a single page. 

" The science of Neurology is the whole science of man. 
it expounds the functions of the brain, and proves that in 
these functions we may learn all his mental powers, and all 
the laws of his physiology. It proves that the mind of man 
is a microcosm, in which we may discover indications of the 
laws and facts of external nature. 

" This science owes its origin to the discovery which I first 
publicly announced in the month of April, 1841, that the 
human brain could be excited and compelled, to manifest the 
functions of its different convolutions. By pursuing this dis- 
covery, and exciting each convolution so as to make its func- 
tions predominate over all others, (as for instance by exciting 
Alimentiveness until hunger became uncontrollable,) I have 
succeeded in demonstrating the mental functions of the differ- 
ent organs, which in most respects are in harmony with the 
theory of Gall and Spurzheim, and in establishing the con- 
trolling power of the brain over the physiological phenome- 
na of the body. 

" An intricate system of Phrenology and Physiology has 
been developed by my experiments, which might very prop- 
erly be called Anthropology. But as this system has been 
developed by experiments upon the brain, and as the nervous 
substance of the body is the seat of its vital powers, that sci- 
ence which expounds the human vital functions is merely the 
science of the nervous substance, and should therefore be 
called Neurology. 

"By the term nervous substance, I have especial reference 
to the encephalon, which is the most important mass of nerv- 
ous substance in the body. The study of its functions gives 
v.s the whole science of man. The mind holds its communi- 



388 NEW APPENDIX. 

cation with the physical world through the brain, which forms 
its connecting link with the body, and which transmits its vo- 
litions and its continual influence to the body. The body re- 
ceives an infinite diversity of physiological powers or impul- 
ses from the brain, continually modifying its circulation, se- 
cretions, respiration, colorification, nutrition, health, disease, 
&c. as well as its muscular movements. 

" The brain, therefore, being the common theatre of physi- 
ology and psychology, is the place in which to study both. 
Take each of the convolutions and parts of convolutions — ex- 
cite them to a manifestation of their functions, and we may 
learn the source of each faculty. Thus one portion of the 
brain, when excited, makes us benevolent, another selfish; 
another makes us laugh, another makes us weep; another 
makes us violently angry, another makes us love the whole 
human race. Again, the physiological phenomena are equal- 
ly distinct ; one part of the brain makes us strong, another 
makes us weak; one makes us go to sleep, another makes us 
wide awake as soon as it is excited ; one makes us hot, 
another makes us cold; one accelerates, and another retards 
the action of the bowels ; one accelerates, and another sup- 
presses the respiration ; one developes and another suppress- 
es perspiration, &c. &c. Thus every physiological act of the 
system may be excited, arrested or modified, by exciting the 
controlling organs in the brain. 

" The phenomena developed in the processes of Animal 
Magnetism, are thus traced to their physiological causes : 
somnolence, sleep, strength, paralysis, clairvoyance, sympa- 
thy, the volitionary power of the operator over the subject, 
&c, are merely the displays of certain faculties belonging in 
various degrees to different individuals, according to their 
endowment of the organs whence these faculties or tenden- 
cies arise. 

" All the Mesmeric conditions may be produced or con- 
trolled by direct operations upon the organs of the brain. 
These operations are not made by means of will or sympa- 
thy. They are as simple as possible ; too simple, indeed, for 
that love of display and wonder which belongs to the unre- 
flecting. No apparatus is necessary — no particular state of 
body or mind. No formal process or preparation of any kind 
whatever. 

" It is only necessary that you find a person of impressible 
temperament, which is indicated generally by the largeness 
of the pupils of the eyes, and by a general delicacy or soft- 
ness of the organization. 

"When you find such an individual, if you hold your hand 
near to his without touching, as by bringing the tips of your 



NEW APPENDIX. 389 

fingers near the palm of his hand, he will feel a slight sensa- 
tion of coldness in less than one minute, which will be quite 
distinct as you move your fingers along toward the extremi- 
ties of his without touching. He will also feel very peculiar 
effects if you touch each of your fingers to the corresponding 
finger of his hand. Each finger will give him a different 
impression. 

"Having thus ascertained his impressibility, place your 
fingers gently in contact with his temples, about one inch or 
one inch and a half horizontally behind the external angle of 
the brow on the temples, upon the spot marked in the Neu- 
rological Diagram, Somnolence, and you will in a few minutes 
(five or ten) perceive a winking of the eyelids and a drowsy 
influence, which gradually increases until he cannot keep his 
eyes open. 

" By brushing off the excitement from the spot which you 
have touched, and placing your hand upon the upper part of 
the occiput, he will be restored. If he has fallen soundly 
asleep, it maybe necessary to touch the organ of Conscious- 
ness, which is exactly in the centre of the forehead ; or the 
organ of vision, which is just at the lower part of the phreno- 
logical organ of color. 

"In this experiment you may on some persons produce 
unpleasant effects, from the excitement of the neighboring 
organ of disease. These may be removed by dispersive 
frictions, touching the head very lightly. 

"If successful in this experiment, you may then excite the 
other organs of the brain, and bring out all their func- 
tions in the same manner. Thus you may take the Neuro- 
logical Diagram, and verify every function which is located 
upon it, if you find a constitution sufficiently impressible to 
give striking manifestations. 

"The art of operating in this manner is extremely simple. 
Any one may acquire it, and may use it to relieve pain or 
disease, by learning the principles of Neurology, which point 
out the proper organs to be excited for any specific result. 
This process, however, is not the principal aim of the science. 
It is applicable to a comparatively small number of persons. 
The experiments upon the human brain answer their great 
purpose by revealing the nature of man — the laws of his 
physiology. 

" They furnish us a science competent to guide our moral, 
mental and physical education. They give clearness _ to 
physiology — they make pathology and therapeutics intelligi- 
ble, and they give us a new basis and a new philosophy for 
the science of medicine. 
33* 



390 NEW APPENDIX. 

" Some time during this summer, I hope to be able to pub- 
lish a volume sketching in outline the principles of this intri- 
cate science. Very respectfully, 

"Your humble servant, 

"JOS. R. BUCHANAN. 
"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 



NOTE XXXVIII. 

In giving directions for the construction of the Magnetic 
battery, Deleuze points out the danger of making use of met- 
als whose oxides are poisonous. The fluid might convey the 
poison to the patients, in the same manner as the Galvanic 
fluid is known to transmit acids and alkalies, through inter- 
mediate substances. 

The following experiments by Dr. Buchanan prove, with 
apparent conclusiveness, the justice of this caution. It is ex- 
tracted from the report of the New York committee published 
in the Evening Post of Dec. 6, 1842. The report is signed 
by Dr. Forry, Wm. C. Bryant, and J. L. O'Sullivan ; whose 
names are not unfavorably known to the public. 

" The committee now proceeded to the house of Mrs. R. 
The first experiments consisted in the application of medicines 
in the same manner as was practised at the previous sitting 
for the purpose of ascertaining to what extent, a medicinal 
influence may be imparted through the hand. Dr. Forry 
having brought with him six different articles of the Materia 
Medica, each was tried successively ; and as none of the par- 
cels (each being enclosed in double papers,) had any labels, 
the results could not be anticipated, as the contents of each 
paper were unknown even to Dr. Forry himself. A decided 
effect was usually produced in the course of thirty seconds ; 
and most of the effects which did occur, were similar to those 
observed in the usual mode of administering such medicines. 
In those cases in which it was necessary for her to describe 
her feelings, the experiment would not of course, be so suc- 
cessful as when the effects would exhibit themselves. In re- 
gard to sulphate of quinine, however, she described the ef- 
fect with much correctness, as ' cooling and strengthening.' 
The narcotics however, told their own story, and in language, 
too, admitting of no two-fold meaning. A paper, for instance, 
was placed in her hand (it being at the same time held by 
Dr. Buchanan,) which speedily produced so powerful a nar- 
cotic effect aa to create some alarm ; and it was some min- 
utes before she could be recovered by Dr. Buchanan, from 
its poisonous influence. As she was being restored to a state 



NEW APPENDIX. 391 

<of consciousness, she made several efforts to vomit 3 but after 
the lapse of eight or ten minutes, during which time various 
passes were made for her relief, she seemed quite recovered. 
On examination, the paper was found to contain the extract 
of stramonium, (Jamestown weed.) One of the papers which 
had been previously tried, and found to produce an 'irritat- 
ing effect and copperish taste of the mouth,' and which had 
been laid aside for subsequent trial, was now again present- 
ed. The effect, as it now perhaps proved less irritating, 
she described as ' stimulating, heating, and exciting, 5 to a 
greater degree than she could well bear. This was opened 
and found to contain Cayenne pepper. Another paper was 
presented which induced narcotic and sickening effects some- 
what similar to those of the stramonium. It was immediate- 
ly removed, and the paper on being opened, was found to 
contain opium, 55 

It ought to be observed here that Dr. Buchanan's experi- 
ments above detailed were made upon an impressible person 
in the natural state ; and are therefore conclusive. He calls 
the agent by which one individual makes a physiological im- 
pression upon another, when in contact, Neuraicra, an appro- 
priate name until it shall be identified with the universal fluid 
of La Place. This fluid, says Dr. B., is radiated and con- 
ducted freely from the human hand. 

It should be remembered that Mesmer maintained the ex- 
istence of such a fluid, and perhaps justice as well as con- 
venience would suggest the propriety of continuing to call it 
the Mesmeric fluid ; in the same manner as we call the one 
discovered by Galvani, the Galvanic fluid. An arbitrary name 
in such a case has peculiar advantages, for it continues to 
represent the same thing in the whole progress of a science. 
Whereas it is well known that several names, such as animal 
electricity, derived from resemblances and partial develope- 
ments, have been thrown aside in the course of investigation. 



NOTE XXXIX. 

The Rev. Dr. Packard, of Shelburne, in Massachusetts, 
where he holds pastoral relations, and where he was ordained 
nearly fifty years ago, having been subjected to injurious re- 
ports in consequence of the attention which he bestowed upon 
Mesmerism, caused a coun&&£to convene in August, 1841, 
before whom he laid the whole subject, together with the evi- 
dences of the good effects which he had produced through its 
agency. 

The report of that council is here given, as published in 



392 NEW APPENDIX. 

the Boston Courier, of Nov. 28th, 1842. " We are acquaint- 
ed," says the Editor of the Courier, "with the Rev. Dr. 
Packard, and we believe him to be too shrewd to be imposed 
upon, and too honest to practice imposition upon others." 

Result of council convened August 18, 1841, at the house,* 
and by the request, of Rev. Theophilus Packard, D. D., 
in Shelburne, consisting of Rev. Moses Miller of West 
Hawley, Rev. Amariah Chandler of Greenfield, Rev. Ty- 
ler Thatcher of Hawley, and Rev. Edward Hitchcock of 
Amherst. 

" The Council were requested by Dr. Packard to consider 
whether, in the attention he had given to animal magnetism, 
or Mesmerism, as it is called, there was any reason for the 
report, circulated in the community, that he has acted incon- 
sistently with his ministerial character, or even by satanic in- 
fluence ! And whether, on the other hand, he has not, in some 
measure successfully, applied mental agency to the relief of 
the sick and suffering ? 

" In deciding these questions, the council are by no means 
prepared to stand forth as advocates of animal magnetism in 
the abstract. They cannot but admit, however, that experi- 
ments on this subject, some of which have been made in the 
most cautious and satisfactory manner, have disclosed re- 
markable facts, not apparently explicable by the principles of 
any established science. These facts appear to have an im- 
portant bearing upon mental philosophy, the doctrine of ma- 
terialism, and the cure of diseases. Sound philosophy, then, 
dictates that they should be examined and re-examined, with 
a carefulness and accuracy proportionate to their marvelous 
and important character. 

"Instead of deciding beforehand, as some do, that they 
cannot be true because they are so marvelous ; or because 
we fear they are contrary to established principles of reli- 
gion ; or, instead of imputing them, as others do, to a satanic 
agency, let them be put to the test of the severest investiga- 
tion. For we need never fear that the developement of any 
truth, which Providence may place within our reach, will, 
when fully understood, be otherwise than beneficial. The 
earlier discoveriesf in almost every physical science, have 

* The Council adjourned to the meeting house, and communications 
made to them and the hearing and investigation were in public. And 
lest vulgar prejudice should make misrepresentations of his verbal state- 
ments before the council, he made them from documents written out and 
preserved. 

f Every new discovery in science is a further discovery of the goodness 
of God, and in some way or other for practical use to man. 



NEW APPENDIX. 393 

'■created alarm in timid minds, lest they should become an en- 
gine with which to assail religion and morality. But their 
lull developement has shown them to be only allies and 
friends. 

"If these views are correct, animal magnetism deserves 
examination ; since it seems, so far as we understand it, to 
hold a close relation to theology and human comfort ; and it 
is surely an appropriate study of the minister of the Gospel, 
so far as he can make its pursuit consistent with his more im- 
portant duties. Particularly proper do the council regard it 
for Dr. Packard. For it is well known that during a long 
life, he has devoted his attention to mental science ; and who 
would wish him to pass by this new and interesting and al- 
most unexplored field 1 If this w T ere his only object, why 
should he not be permitted to close a long and useful life in 
researches so interesting and apparently of useful tendency ? 
Especially, when it is known that, by the settlement of an 
able and faithful colleague, much leisure time has been se- 
cured to him ? Who would have believed that a man, whose 
praise has so long been in all the churches, should be sub- 
jected, on this account, in the 19th century and in the centre 
of New-England, to ridicule, and even to the suspicion of 
acting under satanic influence ? The council, however, are 
happy to say, that no evidence has been presented to them, 
that the people of Shelburne have originated, or circulated, or 
believed these imputations ; and they have too much confi- 
dence in the intelligence and Christian candor of that people, 
to believe that they can obtain a footing here. But they ex- 
ist abroad ; and as the reputation of Dr. Packard is, in a 
sense, the property of the Christian church, the council feel 
themselves called upon to bear strong testimony against them. 
On these grounds, the council feel as if Dr. Packard would 
be fully vindicated from the evil and ridiculous surmises 
which a busy few have circulated to his injury. 

" But they have evidence also of a decided character, set 
before them, to show that a still more powerful motive, by 
which he has been actuated in his attention to this subject, is 
a benevolent desire to relieve the sick and suffering. This 
has led him to examine more than two hundred cases of 
diseases, by means of Mesmeric clairvoyance; and of the 
nature of the diseases, and the remedies prescribed, and the 
ascertained results, a careful record has been kept. This was 
presented to the council, and certainly forms a most curious 
and remarkable collection of evidence on the subject, which 
they cannot but hope, will some day be made public. The 
council by no means assume the place of medical men, nor 
decide whether the remedies prescribed w T ere the very best ; 



394 NEW APPENDIX. 

but if they can place any confidence in the testimony of the 
sick themselves, or of their friends, or of several respectable 
'physicians, they cannot doubt but important relief and appar- 
ent cure were often the result. And in the fact that Dr. 
Packard has persisted in these offices to the sick in spite of 
the obloquy he has incurred; and that he has never lectured 
on the subject, or performed experiments before invited audi- 
ences, or for mere gratification of curiosity, and that instead 
of profit, he has incurred pecuniary loss, they have strong 
evidence that his motives were benevolent. He may perhaps 
have devoted more time and effort to these labors than other 
duties would justify ; nor do the council feel called upon to 
decide, whether in a worldly point of view, he has taken the 
most judicious course possible. But they bear the most de- 
cided testimony to the benevolence and purity of his motives, 
and express their undiminished confidence in his Christian 
and ministerial character. 

" And although they do not understand that this council 
was called with any special reference to the church and peo- 
ple of Shelburne, they cannot but express their best wishes, 
and their fervent prayers, for their future peace and prosperi- 
ty, under the ministrations of their long tried and beloved 

"MOSES MILLER, Moderator. 
"Edward Hitchcock, Scribe." 



Some communications have been received from persons who 
are not willing to give their names. The translator has 
therefore avoided all allusion even to the facts contained in 
them, being desirous of presenting such accounts as are duly 
authenticated. In this manner he is obliged to omit some un- 
doubted cases of medical interest, and some curious phenom- 
ena. The caution observed in this particular at the com- 
mencement of his work, enables him now to say that no one 
of his correspondents has expressed a desire to withdraw any 
statement hitherto made in this appendix ; but, on the con- 
trary, all subsequent experience has confirmed their faith 
and corroborated their facts. 

An exception, however, is made in favor of the following 
statement, because the translator has permission to refer to 
the gentleman who makes it ; and because his authority is 
acknowledged by all who know him, to be worthy of confi- 
dence. 

This gentleman recently visited Portland. He gives the 
following account of an interview with a Somnambulist. 



NEW APPENDIX. 395 

M The next morning after my arrival in Portland, I went 
into a store where I was not personally known, and where 
some gentlemen were discoursing about a somnambulist's 
having discovered concealed property. 

" On my expressing a total disbelief, and a desire to wit- 
ness something of this kind, one of the gentlemen offered to 
accompany me to the residence of Mr. Tarbox, who was 
magnetizing his wife. 

" Neither the gentleman who went with me, nor any other 
person in Portland, knew me or the place of my residence. 
And, as I afterwards found out, neither the husband nor the 
wife had ever been to Providence. 

" Being thrown into the Mesmeric state, she was asked by 
Mr. T., ' Can you tell me this gentleman's name V 

" I will omit the questions put to her, after observing that 
I was careful to give no clue to any one as to myself, nor to 
her by asking leading questions. When she gave a correct 
account, I gave no sign to signify its correctness ; and when 
she gave an incorrect account, I observed the same conduct. 
She made two mistakes only, and these she discovered and 
corrected almost immediately, without the possibility of gain- 
ing any information from any gesture or exclamation of mine. 

" First, she told my name. Being asked how she knew it, 
she said it was written in my pocket-book. She next indica- 
ted Providence, R. I., as my residence. 

"My name and residence were printed in large letters. 
My pocket-book was in the inside pocket of my frock coat. I 
was not in communication with the somnambulist during my 
risit. 

" Mr. Tarbox sent her to Providence, where she gave a 
correct account of my house and family ; and mentioned the 
presence of two children. As I have no children, I was at a 
loss to conjecture whose they were, and thought her in error ; 
but having minuted down the precise time — half past eleven 
o'clock — and remembering it was the general election in 
Rhode-Island, on my return I ascertained her to be correct. 
She also declared them not to be my children. 

" She was then asked by Mr. T., not at my suggestion, 
whether I was a married man. She replied that I had been 
married twice, and gave an account of the number of chil- 
dren I had had, and lost ; and also their sex. 

" She was then directed to ascertain what my profession 
is, and to look round and find my place of business. 

" After a while, she found it and described its exterior and 
interior. She said that the stove was such as she had never 
seen before, having wires inside of it. While busied in the 
description, she suddenly started back, and give as a reason 



396 NEW APPENDIX. 

the appearance of the hands of one of my workmen: saying' 
they had been burnt very badly. 

'• The stove is one of the self-regulating air-tights. The 
young man's hands and arms had been burnt, and shocking- 
ly too. 

" She described my iron safe as a black cupboard under 
my desk : and being requested to look into it, she declared 
she could not for it was iron. She however looked into the 
stove, without being requested to do so. 

" On being asked whether there was a church near my 
shop, she described its general appearance ; saying however, 
it had no steeple, but voluntarily correcting her error, and 
declaring it a very high one, the highest she ever saw. She 
said the church was in a large green yard, full of young 
trees, and my shop in the same yard ; which you know cor- 
responds well with the fact. 



In order to complete the view of Mesmerism as now prac- 
tised, the translator obtained from Mr. Silas Allen, of Boston, 
a number of certificates of cures wrought upon his patients- 
Most of them were prescribed for by a lady under his charge, 
whose somnambulic powers are often called into requisition, 
and whose character is worthy of confidence. 

Among the diseases specified, are, Palpitation and Enlarge- 
ment of the Heart, of ten years duration; severe Cough and 
Raising Blood, Salt Rheum, dangerously Ulcerated Foot 
Liver Complaint, General Debility of the System, &c. And 
among the names of the certifiers, are Mrs. Tileston, Boston, 
49 Hanover street; Parker Barnes, B. A. N. Atwood, George 
Paul, Boston; Dorcas Hill, Samuel W. Brown, Bethiah 
P. Brown, Julia A. Lewis, Thomas E. Roberts, C. Wood- 
ward, Lowell ; II. W. Buxton, Nashua, N. H. ; Dr. Charles 
Stratton, Keene, N. H. 



The cures wrought upon children are peculiarly interesting, 
because we cannot suppose them to be affected through the 
agency of the imagination. Indeed, the imagination often 
acts powerfully in aiding the results of ordinary medicines ; 
and it is difficult to decide how much it interferes with ancl 
modifies the practice of the physician. Dr. Cleaveland was 
called to a child three days old, troubled with convulsions, 
which had lasted twenty-four hours. He placed one hand 
upon its head, and made passes with the other along its body. 
The convulsions ceased in five minutes, and the child went 
into a quiet slumber. 



NEW APPENDIX. 397 

(Fiona the Bangor Courier.) 

Surgical Operation — a Home Case and a Strong one. — 
An operation has been performed in this city which goes far 
to establish the fact that there is something in Mesmerism. 
beyond all dispute. Mrs. Davis, of Eddington, has suffered 
for some time with a tumor in the right shoulder and was 
advised by her physician to have it removed. While think- 
ing upon the subject she heard of Animal Magnetism, and 
came into the city several days since to have its effects tried 
upon her. Mr. Win. E. Small, of this city, who has recent- 
ly been practicing Magnetism among his friends and found 
to be a successful magnetizer. was called upon and succeed- 
ed in mesmerising or in putting her into a magnetic sleep. — 
This was repeated several times within a few days, when the 
physician and several friends met for the purpose of remov- 
ing the tumor by a surgical operation. The excitement of 
the preparation, Mrs. Davis remarked, was so great that she 
doubted whether Mr. Small would be able to mesmerise her 
sufficiently for enduring the operation. Mr. Small commen- 
ced magnetizing her and in eleven minutes she fell asleep, 
and the operation was continued as much longer, when the 
Surgeon, Doct. George B. Rich, made an incision in the 
shoulder, over the tumor, of about two inches in length, and 
inserted a hook into the tumor, which was about half the size 
of a hen's egg, and dissected it out, and dressed the wound. 

During the operation, Mrs. Davis manifested some slight 
uneasiness like a person in a troubled dream, and one or two 
slight spasms in the opposite arm. On being taken out of 
the sleep, she was told that they had not been able to extract 
her tumor, to which she replied that she had feared they 
would not as she was so much excited about it. She was at 
length apprised of the result, of which she was previously 
quite unconscious, and the only sensation of which she was 
in any way conscious was that of being asleep, and wishing 
to wake up but not being able. Nor has she suffered any 
pain since. 

We have this statement, substantially, from those who 
were present ; the parties are of the highest respectability, 
and have no motive for an erroneous statement. 



(From a Cincinnati paper.) 
Death baffled by Magnetism. — Every day is bringing out 
new wonders performed by animal magnetism, which appears 
now to be the great agent in every operation of nature. 
34 



39S NEW APPENDIX. 

From putting people to sleep and making them expose the 
secrets of other people, it has become the powerful instru- 
ment in the hands of medical science to effect the cure of 
diseases. The Pittsburg Intelligencer gives the result of a 
marvelous case of this kind, which occurred there last week. 
A Mrs. Erkson had been confined to her bed since the latter 
part of last May, with a disease generally known as " milk 
leg." She was unable to leave her bed to walk across the 
room, or take a step, except by the aid of a crutch or stick ; 
and the greatest caution and watchfulness were necessary to 
prevent her death. On Sunday, 31st July, she was induced 
to submit to be thrown into a Mesmeric sleep. With the 
greatest difficulty she was moved from the bed to the chair, 
and in about thirty minutes Dr. Ewing had her in a sound 
magnetic slumber, which continued about two hours, during 
which several successful experiments were made in neurolo- 
gy and sympathy. She was then awakened, and, to the as- 
tonishment of herself and friends, got up and walked about 
the room, up stairs and down stairs, and through every room 
in the house, without the aid of a crutch or stick, as if noth- 
ing ailed her. Another experiment was tried, and it had the 
effect of removing every trace of the disease. Dr. Ewing is 
well known in that city, and Mr. and Mrs. Erkson are both 
highly respectable, and their statements are entitled to full 
credence. 



NOTE XLI. 

"Providence, August 4, 1843. 

"Dear Sir: An interesting case recently occurred to me, 
which exemplifies the power of the Mesmeric agency to 
quicken the faculties. A gentleman wished me to Mesmer- 
ise his lady, who had been for some time troubled with a 
nervous excitability. After a few sittings, she was entirely 
freed from this affection. She never reached further than a 
state of demi-somnambulism, during which she would accom- 
pany her husband with her voice, while he was playing upon 
the harmonicon, improvising as she sung. Some stanzas of 
these pieces were written down by her husband, and they 
possess great merit. 

" This lady had published some pieces of verse exhibiting 
a fine poetic temperament, which seems thus to have been 
excited to action. When in the natural state, she could not 
compose inverse without giving thought and attention to the 
subject and metre; but when Mesmerised, her composition 
would be adapted to the tune played. 



NEW APPENDIX. 399 

"One of my friends was recently attacked by a severe 
nervous headache, to which complaint he is periodically sub- 
ject, and which commonly lasts from 36 to 48 hours. He was 
in great distress at 9 o'clock in the evening, from which I re- 
lieved him completely in an hour and a half, and left him en- 
joying a quiet sleep. I shall probably be able to cure this 
tendency by operating whenever he has another attack. 

"I have succeeded in giving great relief to a young lady 
who was in danger of falling a victim to a spinal complaint. 
She was not clairvoyant, but was perfectly obedient to vo- 
lition. Respectfully yours, 

"ISAAC THURBER. 

"Mr. T. C. Hartshorn." 



"The effects produced upon persons who, before the opera- 
lion (of Mesmerising) was begun, were in a state of insen- 
sibility ; those which have taken place upon other persons, 
after the operation itself had reduced them to that state ; and, 
also, the effects produced upon brutes; no longer permit it to 
be doubted that the proximity of two animated bodies, in a 
certain position, and with the help of certain motions, do pro- 
duce a real effect, wholly independent of the imagination of 
either. It is also evident that these effects are owing to a 
communication which takes place between the nervous systems 
of the two parties." — Cuvier, Anatomie Comparee Tom. II. 

" The extraordinary phenomena which result from the ex- 
treme sensibility of the nervous system in some persons, have 
given birth to a variety of opinions, on the existence of a 
new agent, denominated animal magnetism. It is natural to 
suppose that the influence of those causes is very weak, and 
that it can easily be disturbed by accidental circumstances, 
but it would be unfair to conclude that it never exists, merely 
because, in many cases, it does not manifest itself. We are 
so far from being acquainted with all the agencies of nature, 
and with their different modes of action, that it would be un- 
philosophical to deny their existence, because in the present 
state of our knowledge they are unexplainable to us." — La 
Place, Traite Ajialytique die Calcul des Probabilites. p. 41. 



NOTE XLII— Pa<re 245. 



Magnetism a Science. — As objections are sometimes made 
to the word science, as applied to Mesmerism, I have avoid- 
ed the use of it in the Appendix ; but as some of my corres- 
pondents have used it, and as Deleuze himself does not hesi- 



400 NEW APPENDIX. 

tate to do so, it may be expedient to consider whether it is 
entitled to that appellation. 

We apply the term to any subject of study that has cer- 
tain fixed principles, as music, electricity, Galvanism. The 
whole science of electricity, so far as it is known, according 
to the Franklinian theory, is based upon two principles. 

But there are many facts not reducible to these two princi- 
ples ; perhaps they refer to laws not yet discovered. Its re- 
lation to terrestrial magnetism and to Galvanism is not ascer- 
tained : theory supposes them to be modifications of the same 
agent. If it were necessary for all the principles to be de- 
veloped, before a subject is dignified with the name of sci- 
ence, we may have been too hasty in regard to electricity. 
And if we were to examine the claims of all the other branch- 
es of human knowledge to this term, we should find them, 
by the same argument, equally unfounded ; for every one of 
them may have unexplored or undiscovered laws. Properly 
speaking, we should not have a single science. 

Again, if we limit the application to those subjects which 
have a certain number of discovered laws, how shall we de- 
termine the number that is necessary ? If more than two are 
required, then electricity is no science. 

Every one who reads the Practical Instruction, will ob- 
serve that Mesmerism has two fundamental principles, which 
are to be regarded in its application. 

First, this agent must be employed with attention. 

Secondly, it must be employed with the proper intention. 

If any one objects that these principles refer solely to the 
conditions of its action, it is easy to say the same thing of 
the two laws of electricity, which do not pretend to explain 
the agent itself. 

The laws of both of these agents are easily demonstrated : 
further, there are certain circumstances which are requsite 
before the demonstration can be made. It cannot therefore 
be urged with propriety, that Mesmerism is improperly term- 
ed a science, simply because its effects are not always produ- 
cible : nor can it be urged from the consideration that we do 
not perfectly know the circumstances which impede its action. 
Electricity would itself be a science, if we were ignorant of 
the disturbing cause arising from the moisture of the atmos- 
phere. 

Neither can the existence or the non existence of a fluid de- 
termine this question, or affect it in the least. Electricity 
cannot be proved to be a. fluid. The light which we see 
when we apply the discharger to a Leyden jar, may be noth- 
ing more than the sudden and violent compression of the at- 
mosphere, which attends the restoration of the equilibrium. 



NEW APPENDIX. 401 

l[ there is a fluid it is invisible ; otherwise we should see it 
in the Leyden jar when fully charged. 

Since we cannot suppose effects without an agent, and 
since the effects of Mesmerism are readily demonstrated, we 
must suppose an agent. The controlling laws of this agent 
are to be traced in these effects. The knowledge and the 
application of these laws, so far as they are known, constitute 
a science, however imperfectly formed. 

It may be further observed, that there is a distinction be- 
tween the manual application of the rules of this science, 
and a knowledge of its laws and anomalies ; which exhibits 
another analogy with electricity, for the latter can be prac- 
tised as an art, medically ; or studied as a science, philosophi- 
cally. 



Error. — The word abnormal, on the 372d page, was misprinted 
abnominaU 



34* 



INDEX TO THE APPENDIX. 

NOTE I. 217 

NOTE II. — Scene in a school-room. Children possess the 
magnetic power. Three instances. Somnambulism at the 
first trial without manipulation, . . . 217 

NOTE III. — Power over the subject's imagination. Various 

experiments. Magnetized water, . . - 218 

NOTE IV. — Clairvoyance. Explanation of the term. In 
what manner some somnambulists examine objects. Read- 
ing a sealed letter. Note from Isaac Thurber. Experi- 
ment by a young lady : by the translator. Extract from 
the Salem Gazette. A somnambulist examines one of Dr. 
B's patients. Post-mortem examination. Note from Dr. B., 219 
NOTE V. — Degree of control exercised over somnambulists, 225 
NOTE VI. — Coincidence of experience in this country and 

in Europe, in relation to the magnetic practice, . 226 

NOTE VII.— Awaking a somnambulist, . . 226 

NOTE VIII. — Paralysis, produced in somnambulists by 
volition : in the natural state by manipulation. Letter 
from Dr. Webb. Notice of Gassner. Exorcism. Mes- 
mer's extraordinary power, .... 227 

NOTE IX. — Cutting out a cancer, the patient being in the 

somnambulic sleep, ..... 231 

NOTE X.— Dr. Capron's account of Miss Brackett. Blind- 
ness. Curious phenomena. Statement of Henry Hop- 
kins and of Jesse Metcalf, .... 233 
NOTE XL— Experiments by M. B. L. Effects of a key. 
Magnetizing at a distance. Obeying the will. Somnam- 
bulist solving arithmetical problems. Effects of a bar mag- 
net. Magnetic circuit. Glass not a non-conductor, 239 
NOTE XIL— Experiments by A. V. Potter. Notions of 

time. Distant clairvoyance, . . . 245 

NOTE XIII. — Somnambulism. Hermotimus Clazomenius. 
Eli Yarnall. The Magnetizer. Examining the sick. Ex- 
tract from Puysegur, ..... 248 
NOTE XIV. — Travelling somnambulists. Mistakes and illu- 
sions. Letter from Dr. Hartshorn : from Rev. F. A. Far- 
ley : from Dr. John Flint, .... 253 
NOTE XV.— Reading sealed letters. Note from Dr. Capron, 260 
NOTE XVI.— Dexterity of somnambulists, . . 261 
NOTE XVII .—Instance of wit, ... 261 
NOTE XVIII. —La Fayette to Washington, . . 262 
NOTE XIX.— Superstition, .... 262 
NOTE XX. — Transmission of pain, . . . 264 
NOTE XXL— The magnetic fluid. Argument. Paralysis, 264 
NOTE XXIL— Scrofula, .... 267 



404 INDEX TO THE APPENDIX. 

NOTE XXIII.— Epilepsy. Dr. Brownell. Distant influ- 
ence, .267 

NOTE XXIV.— Blindness. M. Hebert. Marchioness des 
Rousses. Prevision. Sight at a distance, . . 268 

NOTE XXV. — Letters from physicians. Nervous affection. 
Tic douloureux. Liver complaint. Hypochondriasis. Mes- 
merising at a distance of five miles. Somnambulic exami- 
nations of the sick. Case of Eleazur Barrett — paralysis. 
Miss Mclntyre. Local action. Curing paralysis in two 
instances without somnolence. Inducing functional disease. 
Inveterate cutaneous disease. Labor pains. Fever and 
ague. Affection of the head, with fever. Epilepsy. 
Spasmodic cough. Toothache. Bowel pains. Hip com- 
plaint. Neuralgia, ..... 275 

NOTE XXVI.— Letter from Dr. Bobbins, on the correction 
of the habits of somnambulists, . . . 289 

NOTE XXV1L— Insensibility to pain. Operations by Dr. 
Esten, Dr. Harwood, and Dr. Washburn, . . 292 

NOTE XXVIIL— Distant Clairvoyance. Letter from E. L. 
Frothingham, Esq. : from Dr. Bugard : from Rev. E. B. 
Hall : from Rev. Benjamin Kent : from Joseph Harring- 
ton, Jr. : from Frederic S. Church, . . . 295 

NOTE XXIX. — Dr. Georget. Somnambulic examinations 
and prescriptions. Dr. Georget's power. Prevision. Pe- 
tronille. Dr. Londe. Somnambulist foretelling her own 
death. Remarkable declaration inserted in Georget's Will, 321 

NOTE XXX.— Letter from Moses B. Lockwood. Case of 
Croup. Mesmerising at a distance. Tracing the mag- 
netizer, ....... 325 

NOTE XXXI. — Letters from Physicians. Neuralgia, or 
Tic Douloureux. Delirium tremens. Bronchitis. Dys- 
pepsia and spinal irritation. Partial Paralysis. Headache 
and Dyspepsia. Hepatitis and Cephalalgia. Chronic in- 
flammation of the stomach and bowels. Modifying the 
influence according to circumstances. Restoring warmth 
to a paralysed limb. Inflammation of the chest, with symp- 
toms of mortification. Deep seated pain in the breasts. 
Spasms from nursing. Case of Mrs. W. C. Dyspepsia. 
Obeying volition. Seeing through opaque substances. 
Distant clairvoyance. Idiocy and mania combined. Mrs. 
M. Influence on the taste. Clairvoyance. Somnambu- 
lic examination. Establishing communication. Clairvoy- 
ance. Tic Douloureux. Palpitation of the heart. Chang- 
ing Magnetizers. Case of Mrs. F. Tic Douloureux. 
Chronic periodical headache. Tic Douloureux. Consti- 
pation and ingratitude. Demolishing skepticism. Mes- 
merism should be used only as a remedial agent, 327 

NOTE XXXII. — Seeing through opaque substances. Let- 
ter from Isaac Thurber, Esq. : from Mr. George Hunt : 
from Dr. Knox, ..... 344 

NOTE XXXI11.— Insensibility to pain. Letter from Dr. 



INDEX TO THE APPENDIX. 405 

Esten. Severe dental operations. The Mesmerised per- 
son destroys the nerve of her own tooth with a hot needle, 348 

NOTE XXXIV.— Letter from Mr. A. V. Potter. Compara- 
tive susceptibility of the sexes. Various experiments. 
Paralysis. Springfield somnambulist put asleep. Curious 
effects on Mrs. F. Maria Reed. Mrs. Smith. Miss S. 
Dr. March's daughter. Effect at a distance. Mr. John 
Perry. Judge Spreicker. Miss Van N., . . 350 

NOTE XXXV. — Influence in the waking state. Choice of 
Magnetizers and Physicians, . . . 355 

NOTE XXXVI.— Letters from Physicians. 

From Dr. Douglas. Labor pains, two cases. Acute 
Rheumatism. Rheumatism in the feet. Bronchitis. Spi- 
nal affection. Deep issues with caustic potash, made with- 
out pain. Acute inflammation of stomach and bowels. 
Tumefaction of the bowels. Various diseases, . 359 

From Dr. Barrett. Case of Miss E. J. Pleurisy. Two 
cases of extracting teeth without pain. Spinal irritation. 
Local magnetism rendering the patient insensible to pain 
in the part magnetized. Natural somnambulism cured, 364 

From Dr. Cleaveland. Experiments upon the memory. 
Recalling the events of childhood, and those of a later pe- 
riod. Transmission of pain from the patient and to the 
patient. Neuralgia. Curious effect of a fall. Singular 
case of Tetanus. Tetanus distinguished from Epilepsy, 365 

From Dr. Capron. Notice of Miss Brackett's case. In- 
terruption of its treatment. Theory proposed. Wilson 
Phillip. Identity of Galvanic Electricity and the Nervous 
Influence. Extraordinary cases of electrical excitement 
in human subjects. Cymnotus. Fascination. Influence 
of the passions. Sympathies. Sensitive plants. Redu- 
cing the pulsations of the heart. Phreno-magnetism. Un- 
derstanding the thoughts of another. Ancient Oracles. 
Dreaming. Origin of diseases. Dr. Cttllen. Mode of 
commencing a treatment, .... 369 

NOTE XXXVII.— Neurology. Letter from Dr. Buchanan. 
Explanation of the science. Indications of impressibility. 
Mode of procedure, ..... 386 

NOTE XXXVIIL— Dr. Buchanan's experiments. Medicinal 
influence imparted through the hand, . . . 390 

NOTE XXXIX.— Rev. Dr. Packard. Result of Council. 
Somnambulic visit. Notice of Mr. Silas Allen's cases. 
Various diseases. Convulsions in a child cured by Dr. 
Cleaveland, ...... 391 

NOTE XL. — Cutting out a tumor without pain. Dr. Rich. 
Milk-leg. Dr. Ewing, ..... 397 

NOTE XLL— Letter from Isaac Thurber, Esq. Poetic fac- 
ulty excited. Chronic headache. Spinal complaint, 398 
Extract from Cuvier. Extract from La Place, . 399 

NOTE XLII. — Mesmerism a scienee, - . - 399 



NOTICES. 

[Extracts from Providence papers, noticing the First Edition.] 
Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn, of this city, has published Part I. of 
the work of J. P. F. Deleuze, with the title of " Practical In- 
struction in Animal Magnetism." We have ever been skeptical 
as to this subject, probably because we have taken no pains to ob- 
tain evidences of its truth ; and we have probably been prevented 
from seeking these evidences, first, because we did not wish to be 
carried away by a momentary excitement ; and second, because, 
as we frankly confess, we have no desire to be convinced of its 
truth, until satisfied that if true, it will be productive of more 
good than evil ; and which we do not believe. 

But as to the work before us, though other pressing avocations 
have prevented us from giving it a thorough perusal, there are 
two things for which we can vouch. Whatever Mr. H. does, is 
well done ; and therefore, the public may have the utmost confi- 
dence in his translation as being a faithful and elegant one ; and 
be assured that his own notes are penned with the utmost degree 
of candor and good feeling. — Republican Herald, Sept. 12th. 

We have been favored with a copy of a work entitled Part First, 
Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism, by J. P. F. Deleuze, 
translated from the Paris edition by Thomas C. Hartshorn. The 
work is very neatly got Up, and from a hasty examination of the 
same, the work of the translator appears to have been faithfully 
and ably performed. Mr. Hartshorn has given great attention to 
this subject, and we know of no person better qualified than him- 
self to favor the public with a full history of Animal Magnetism 
and its various developements in this region. Public curiosity is 
now so highly excited, and the interest felt in this subject by sci- 
entific men, especially of the medical profession, is now so great, 
that nothing short of a full and complete investigation of the ex- 
traordinary phenomena of Magnetism will satisfy the demand of 
the public. — Daily Courier. 

We have been favored with the perusal of the proof sheets of 
this work, now in the press of B. Cranston & Co., and which 
will be published at the close of the coming week. Considering 
the excitement which the subject of Animal Magnetism has 
made of late and is still destined to make in this country, more 
particularly in consequence of the astonishing developements of 
its power that have been for months past transpiring in this city 
and vicinity, we are glad to see our recommendations acted upon, 
and to learn that the public are about to be furnished with infor- 
mation touching the whole matter, in the appendix of the present 
work. — Daily Journal, Aug. 24. 



NOTICES. 407 

The translation of Deleuze's work on Animal Magnetism, from 
which we made a lew extracts while it was passing through the 
press, is now published and on sale at our bookstores. Besides 
the contents of the original work, it has much additional matter 
in the form of notes, relative to some of the cases that have oc- 
curred in this quarter. We recommend both believers and unbe- 
lievers to purchase and read it ; and reiterate what we some time 
since stated, that implicit reliance may be placed in Mr. T. C. 
Hartshorn, as a translator and annotator. — Ibid., Sept. 6. 

[From the Boston Medical aud Surgical Journal.] 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 
Although a variety of facts have been given to the medical pub- 
lic within the last year, to convince the profession that there is 
some truth in animal magnetism, we have been unwilling to med- 
dle with the matter of late, for fear of being considered either a 
dupe, or a tool in the hands of designing knaves. But the recent 
developements in the city of Providence are so well authentica- 
ted by members of our own profession, that we cannot withhold 
some notice of them without doing a manifest injustice to our 
patrons, who have a right to expect a fair chronology of all events 
."occurring in the circle of professional observation. With these 
explanatory remarks, we shall republish, from an Appendix to 
Deleuze, just published at Providence, the following statements 
of Dr. Webb, Dr. Capron, and others, whose reputations place 
them entirely above the suspicion of a design to impose upon the 
world. — Vol. 17, page 89. 

Deleuze's Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism, is a very 
exciting little work, translated by Thomas C. Hartshorn, of Pro- 
vidence. A page will hereafter be devoted to a further notice. 
In the mean time, being on sale, we recommend it to the candid 
perusal of the profession. — Ibid. vol. 17, page 98. 

Aside from any particular feelings of dislike or partiality for 
the subject of animal magnetism, candor obliges us to acknowl- 
edge that this compact manual is a very captivating production. 
There is a peculiar manifestation of honesty in the author, who 
writes what he considers to be substantially true, without any re- 
ference to the opinions of the world. Having no guile himself, 
he seems to be unwilling to believe that any one else can be in- 
fluenced by bad motives. Fully aware of the ridicule to which 
the devotees of Mesmerism have been subjected, he shows no 
disposition to shun the criticisms of those who have endeavored, 
from the very beginning, to overthrow the labors of those who 
are toiling in this new field of philosophy. 

What are we to know of animal magnetism, unless some exer- 
tion is made to become acquainted with the facts which are con- 
tinually being presented? To be so thoroughly obstinate as nei- 
ther to hear, see nor read, is virtually closing our eyes against 
the admission of those few rays of light, which men of science 






408 



and' of the highest respectability are concentrating for our imme- 
diate benefit. The mere act of expressing a supreme contempt 
for the assertions of those who hrae witnessed, over and over 
again, in different countries, preAely the same phenomena in 
individuals who were the subjects of this newly discovered 
power, will not overthrow it, till collusion and deep hypocrisy 
can be found to have been at the bottom of every case, both in 
the operator and patient. 

The translator of this work has certainly presented the profess- 
ion with an uncommonly well-digested treatise, enhanced in value 
by his own notes and the corroborative testimony of eminent phy- 
sicians. There is an orderly arrangement perceivable in it, Avhich 
gives character at once to the matter, however doubtful we may 
be in relation to the reality of the details. 

When the second part is published, which cannot be deferred 
very long, we have it in view to enter into a more minute consid- 
eration of the probable value of magnetism, as an agent in the cure 
of diseases. It should not be forgotten that the biographical 
sketch of the life and services of Deleuze, is worth the price of 
the book. — Ibid. vol. 17, page 113. 



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